Historically speaking, Government immorality collapses previously capable societies — where is the United States today?

© 2020 Peter Free

 

29 November 2020

 

 

Today, we start with mundane hypocrisy . . .

 

. . . and escalate to an existential lesson lifted from History with regard to it.

 

 

Mundane example of 21st century American government hypocrisy

 

Denver mayor Michael Hancock joined California Governor Gavin Newsom — and innumerable other American government officials — in demonstrating that rules are for everyone but them and their fellow parasites:

 

 

"Pass the potatoes, not COVID," said Hancock today in a tweet that advised people to host virtual gatherings instead of in-person dinners and to "avoid travel, if you can."

 

That tweet was posted about half an hour before Hancock was set to fly to Houston, according to Denver-area NBC affiliate 9News. The mayor's ultimate destination, they reported, is Mississippi, where he will link up with his daughter and wife for Thanksgiving.

 

© 2020 Christian Britschgi, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock Urged People Not To Travel for Thanksgiving Shortly Before Boarding His Flight, Reason (24 November 2020)

 

 

The larger lesson (generated by the above triviality) . . .

 

. . . is this one, extracted from a recently published study about the history of non-autocracies:

 

 

[C]ollective action theory posits that mutual moral obligation arises primarily out of the management of jointly shared resources.

 

Secondly, under conditions of collective action, leadership is understood to be strongly relational between leaders and citizens. This contrasts with most prior theory that assumes that the actions of leaders alone determined modes of governance and political change . . . .

 

Good government, past or present, is premised on checks on power, a distribution of voice, ways to police corruption, equitable fiscal financing of the state, limits on greed, and leadership dedicated to public service.

 

For the Ming, the Mughal, the Romans, and Venetian states, what began in exuberant phases of intense state-building effort intended to construct more just and functional systems of good government, ended when the leadership inexplicably undermined those earlier goals, core values, and practices.

 

As a result, the societal threads of effective cooperation and security were torn, and once prosperous nations and empires were exposed to the dual threats of invasion and decline.

 

© 2020 Richard E. Blanton, Gary M. Feinman, Stephen A. Kowalewski and Lane F. Fargher, Moral Collapse and State Failure: A View From the Past, Frontiers in Political Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2020.568704 (16 October 2020)

 

 

The study capably demonstrates those claims with solid details.

 

 

In other words

 

When reasonably equitable goals in governance are shared by public and honorable government leaders, outcomes are "good" and durable.

 

However, when Government takes advantage of the public's trust in it — and widespread corruption ensues — everything heads for major societal collapse.

 

 

The moral? — Ethics matter

 

We all know this. Even though pillaging America and laissez faire capitalism pretend not to.