Our Diversions

An entertained People are a happy People and The People shall see to it that they have their amusements, including investing in resources necessary for these activities to flourish.

One of the major human needs that is satisfied by organized religion is for fellowship. This need can be met instead by encouraging individuals to pursue activities in other areas. Public investment in the required infrastructure (parks, sports fields, recreation centers, and publicly accessible meeting and hobbyist areas) must therefore be encouraged.

To the extent that people value art and music, under Matchism these will be funded directly in proportion to that value. No need to beg for charity, lobby for largess from the government, and no need to be disappointed if your pledge drive does not gather what you’d expect: If The People decide that 5% of our tax revenue should go to the arts, exactly that amount will be spent, which exactly matches what The People want and therefore exactly what the recipients should expect. The fact that they will use The System to approve grants and public art installations may cramp some artists’ style, but again, The People have a right to expect that the money they spend will provide the value they seek.

To the extent competitive team sports are a sublimation of tribalism, interLocality competition is to be encouraged. There are concerns with the effects of sports involving violence, however, which may actually increase societal violence (e.g., Sipes 1973, Stemple 2006, and Goldstein 1999)

Next: On Matchish Exceptionalism