Monday, May 11, 2015

Abdicated Responsibility: Why Societies Fail

“This [U.S. Constitution] is likely to be administered for a course of years and then end in despotism… when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.” - [Benjamin Franklin / Washington's Blog]

There is no higher form of intelligence than responsibility. Knowing what needs to be done, and doing it. It's clearly a subject they don't teach at Harvard, despite being the most important lesson from history. All societies that devolve into an everyone-for-themselves rent-seeking zero sum game, fail. 

This society is bereft of any form of responsibility. It's inherently infantile. Always looking for the easiest way out of everything. 

A responsible society asks how will this affect the third generation from now, not how will this work fifteen minutes from now.

All grasshoppers, no ants. A function of having it too easy for too long.