What would anyone do if they knew, rightly or wrongly, that any pathway within the system to succeed was difficult, time consuming, and not likely to succeed anyway? And what if the punishments for acting outside of the system to accomplish goals were removed?
A quick risk versus reward assessment would say that it makes perfect sense to just take what you want.
The southern border is one example. There is little incentive to go through the normal asylum process. It is not only lengthy, most of the people crossing the border wouldn’t qualify because they don’t meet the requirements. They are making the journey because of economic reasons, not persecution. The crime and political corruption they are escaping is probably real, but not worse than many Democrat run cities in the US. But by crossing illegally there are multiple pathways to succeed. First, you may not get caught by the border patrol. Second, if you are caught, you might just be released into the US. And third, if you are caught and sent back to Mexico, you can cross again to try and get option one or two above.
Another example would be the looting that we see from the BLM crowd when they get any excuse to blame it on the system. It happened again last night after police shot and killed Winston Boogie Smith after he allegedly “produced a gun” during an arrest for an outstanding warrant. The crowd quickly turned to emptying out nearby stores including Target, CVS, and Walgreens, among others. The odds of facing any punishment for destroying a retail outlet are pretty slim. They get the added benefit of politicians making excuses for them as well. The people are only taking what they need you see.
We also have the nightly riots in Portland. They serve the perpetrators in a couple of ways. They get to act out with reckless abandon while also believing that they are serving some sort of twisted higher cause. Some even admit that they are taken care of for participating. This is from the Oregonian:
Some described being homeless. Some took public transportation to the protest lines. Some described a deep sense of belonging and acceptance and a culture of mutual aid — receiving money and supplies when they needed it, without expectation of compensation.
Many of the rioters that have been arrested were quickly released without charges.
The reward versus punishment calculation is also at play in the Biden Administration’s foreign policy. Iran has not made any moves to satisfy demands made by our government, yet they continue to get money and trade in spite of sanctions. Russia also gets to build their pipeline unopposed for simply being belligerent.
The carrot and stick approach to governing doesn’t really work when the carrots can just be taken, and there are no sticks in sight.