How a Nation Self Destructs
By Harvey Lothian
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43774.htm
Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)Even when we are socially bonded, we still need leaders. The daily grind of making a society run smoothly requires organization and since we can't have every last person caught up in every minute detail of governing, we need others to go in our stead. Doctors and farmers can't tend to their jobs - and all our needs - if they have to be at city hall every day. Teachers and builders and ... whatever your specialty ... have their own duties. We would still need representatives for the business of governing, logically they should be democratically elected. Mind you, I mean leaders, not politicians. There is a distinct difference.
Unless, of course, we are scattered into thousands of tiny villages completely independent of each other. In which case, we would not be socially bonded in any real way to begin with.
On edit: I also add that sharing resources makes everyone stronger and healthier and is better for everyone, so while the tiny village set up may be ideal for some, inter-tribal relationships are a must. You can't do that without some level of organization. Think of waterways and electricity, for example. Plumbing for one village is cost prohibitive but together, multiple communities can benefit.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)care about the nation. We are not there at this time.
Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)Proserpina
(2,352 posts)(shakes head sadly)
The current situation is BECAUSE of cultural change, as the culture of the past 50 years tries to cope with the machinations of the 1% bent on destroying everything generations of ordinary people have worked to achieve in
infrastructure
education
housing and community
tax structure
public health
environment
economy
and so forth.
Just about the only thing the 1% hasn't bothered to destroy is art...probably because they can buy it and lock it up away from the world, if it's good enough.
Rebkeh
(2,450 posts)If you don't believe it can happen, that's fine. But stay out of the way of those who do.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)We have not really "WON" a war since WWII -- not any big war anyway.
And the reasons for that are that first, we are persuaded by special interests to get involved in wars that don't really matter to our country or to us, and second, we are not united because we are urged by the media and some of our political leaders to care very little and even not at all about each other.
I watch families. Mine is very close. We take care of each other. We reach out to help each other. As a nation we need to get closer and take care of each other and reach out to help each other too. That's how we can be strong. That's how we can best nourish and nurture our young.
It's really quite simple. We will either do this or we will fail as a nation.
We have no choice, really.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)Proserpina
(2,352 posts)Says it all, much better than I did.
highprincipleswork
(3,111 posts)AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)Forty years later, a record high of nearly two-thirds say "you can't be too careful" in dealing with people.
People do get a little more trusting as they age. But beginning with the baby boomers, each generation has started off adulthood less trusting than those who came before them.
Proserpina
(2,352 posts)Boomers were screwed repeatedly, since about 1960 onwards.