The situation you are lamenting (and I agree with your sentiment) is not a "tragedy of the commons." I think you are trying to describe a collective action problem. Collective action problems are frequently brought up during a discussion of the tragedy of the common but the existence of a collective action problem does not imply that there is a tragedy of the commons. If you are interested in these types of issues Mancur Olsen's "The Logic of Collective Action" is the standard introduction.
