Society is decadent. Civilization is falling around us as more and more people become looters and moochers. Justice is no longer a virtue in our society.
But what can we do? What can be done? Can we save civilization in the face of all these things and at the same time, preserve it for centuries to come?
Yes, I said centuries. It is high time that many of us not look just to the immediate future but the very long-term future as well. We need to be able to not devour ourselves and relegate our society into the trash heap of history.
It is a lofty goal, I’m sure. Certainly there are things that need to be done immediately, things that should be done soon, and things that need to be set in motion for the long-term. These actions may or may not preserve civilization in the long-term, but doing things differently may be worth a try for once.
The current society has fallen into what is basically what Rome fell into a few centuries before it’s total abandonment. Rome was left in ruins and rubble at around AD 600, but their society has pretty much given into decadence long before that. As a result, they were unable to meet the challenges that they faced in the future.
But the United States is not Rome. Washington DC is not Rome. While there are similarities, there are differences as well. For one thing, this country is 82% Christian where as the majority of Romans were pagan. The cultural significance of this cannot be overlooked. Another thing is that Rome was actively and openly into conquest, especially at its height. While the United States is operating like a major empire, no politician worth his salt is going to admit this openly.
It seems that our civilization is on the brink of a great shift and I don’t see our society as being ready to ensure that it will be a long lasting one. The overall time preference of people in America is very high (that’s a bad thing) and the government seems to encourage this kind of limited thinking.
On top of that, justice is no longer a virtue among those who are supposed to uphold it. Instead it has been supplanted with “social justice” and outright theft and murder. The government at all levels routinely robs the citizenry through fines and unlawful seizures, largely because the populace is without much recourse.
This is not about complaining though. This is about identifying the problems inherent in our civilization and finding a solution to them in order to preserve it. It will take a lot of effort, sacrifice, and a lot of different ideas to bring it about.
This is not about creating a Utopian society either. There is no such thing and no society will ever be without elements of decadence. The key is to find a way to ensure that the decadent people are not given the reigns of power and are marginalized.
I will attempt to explore some options in future posts. I don’t know how many there will be, but I have to at least try and do this, if it is nothing more than a thought experiment. Many of these posts will probably be speculation or just simply thought streams, but hopefully they will inspire a spark in someone to do something rather than have all of us just complain about the collapse.