The Romans, the Aztecs, the Greeks, and the Third Reich. They've all got
something in common and I'm not talking their obsessions with dressing up. Great
empires spanning huge parts of the globe. Sophisticated governmental systems,
huge armies making monumental impacts on history and the way we lead our lives
today. They all foundered.
There's one empire I haven't mentioned. The British Empire. At the beginning
of the twentieth century, Britain still ruled over 200 countries and four
hundred million people. The world map still had a large shade of red showing our great
'achievements' in spreading our own particular flavour of world domination. Like
any patriotic country we politely kid ourselves that we were bringing the
benefit or our way of life to a world of savages. The reality is of course that
Britain committed atrocities. We invented the concentration camp. We forced our
way of life onto hundreds of countries who were happy with their own way of life
beforehand.
And do we think that our empire is going to be exempt from meltdown? Or are
we in meltdown and we don't realise it? I'm beginning to think we've just tipped
over the edge. Our society is based on a set of rules. For a golden period those
rules were based on a simple set of morals. Society as a whole understood the
concept of morals. No longer is that the case. Abuse of the rules is now
widespread. The concept of moral behaviour is no longer understood in large
parts of our society. Blame and self-pity now drive people rather than ambition
and the desire to give anything back to society.
Swathes of the population now consider the Government of this country is a
cash cow to be milked rather than being representative of the people. Civilised
society is supposed to be about looking after those in our community who can't
look after themselves. Now too many are helping themselves at the expense of
those who are prepared to play by the rules.
The powers that be continue to use the same blunt tools to govern. More rules
are created. Rules are fine until we are drowning in a sea of them. No longer
are rules based on simple morals. New laws, new rules are now created merely to
address loopholes in other rules exposed by money grabbing lawyers or those
seeking to squirm out of justice.
The situation on our roads amply demonstrates this. A simple set of rules
intelligently applied would suffice. Look at the number of signs telling us
what's allowed and what's not allowed. Decent education, and simple application
of rules regarding driving with care and attention could be used to police our
roads. They're not however. We now need a law banning the use of phones whilst
driving. We now need laws and cameras to tell us that we need to be careful when
driving near young children. We don't need individual laws. It's a sign that
existing rules aren't effective.
An intellectual backlash has started. The powers that be have created a
spider's web of rules designed to control the carnage on our roads. The
intelligent members of society toed the line but they're being pushed too far
now. Law abiding citizens are now being criminalised in an effort to control
those with no respect for the law anyway.
The over regulation on our roads and in society at general is a sign of the
breakdown of our social system. When the core of society starts to question the
very means by which we manage our country, we need a seachange in thinking. Not
so long ago Britain almost governed the world. Now we can barely govern
ourselves.
Unless fresh thinking is applied then our own society will continue the
meltdown until it reaches historic proportions. 'Historic' being a big hint.
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