Scarcity's history..

[nimbus]

Anyone know where to read about realistic speculation of what politics would be reduced to after scarcity's gone? E.G. If we take a boilerplate list of issues like the one from "ontheissues.org":

International Issues
Foreign Policy
Homeland Security
War & Peace
Free Trade
Immigration
Energy & Oil

Domestic Issues
Gun Control
Crime
Drugs
Civil Rights
Jobs
Environment

Economic Issues
Budget & Economy
Government Reform
Tax Reform
Social Security
Welfare & Poverty
Technology & Infrastructure

Social Issues
Education
Health Care
Abortion
Families&Children
Corporations
Principles & Values

Which ones can be crossed out, or which ones would remain? For argument's sake, the circumstances are a few decades after scarcity transition, once things are well on the way to settling down. We have the means to get off Earth to colonize space. It's as accessible as the New World was. Technology has progressed to the point where you have the primitive equivalent of a Star Trek replicator - It's clunky but it functions the same. You only need to feed it raw matter and it (for argument's sake again) perfectly sorts it out and re-arranges it on command; the only work required is designing what comes out.
Energy is also just as plentiful. Everyone has access to their own little fusion reactor with negligible maintenance issues. It's as simple as feeding coal to a steam engine.
Health has at least one major improvement: everyone lives to ~300.

In short, you can live off the grid in absolute safety (aside pirates and such). In such a setting, what would remain of politics as we know today?

 

[OleNewt]

You only need to feed it raw matter and it (for argument's sake again) perfectly sorts it out and re-arranges it on command; the only work required is designing what comes out.

We have this now (sort of), actually. Some guy who had a big job in the rapid-prototyping field noted the proposed applications of rapid-prototyping for things like organ transplants (still 100 years away). He figured that if they could puzzle out how to do it for organs and medical stuff, why not apply the tech to food? While I believe it was just a thought experiment rather than an investment, he did actually build a working prototype and presented it at a technology conference.