However, the purpose of this essay is to examine and to expose the problem - not to provide solutions. Understanding what the real problems are should go along way in helping to come up with these solutions. According to R. Hardin, some experimental data indicates that about one half of the participants cooperate. I suspect that more cooperated in the past and less will in the future. Fortunately, it does not require 100 percent cooperation for most group efforts to succeed.
Many public projects function with only a small percentage contributing.
Voting is a good example. An educated person is more likely to be cognizant of the tradeoffs between self interest and group interest. How to establish this required moral structure in modern society is a baffling problem, however. Success can also be achieved for group activities that would fail if based on voluntary cooperation by invoking the force of law. Environment groups have made much use of this approach.