"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -- John AdamsWhy do megalomaniacal dictators turn their dominions into a forced death march?
Why do benevolent leaders run the public coffers dry continuing to ply voters with goodies they can no longer afford?
Because they can. Power must be wielded. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus and George Washington are rare historical exceptions.
“An orgy looks particularly alluring seen through the mists of righteous indignation.” -- Malcolm MuggeridgeWhy do we see rich celebrities engaging debased acts? Because they can. People like Tiger Woods face temptations ordinary men only dream of. A beautiful family, fame and a bounty of material possessions mean nothing. We are hardwired to seek a bigger bang.
It's Human Nature
All human beings have desires, a will to power, money, sex, getting high... It's in our nature. The Ancient Greeks knew it, and all great thinkers up through our founding fathers recognized it as well.
We're bastards, and we'll take every advantage if left to our basest animal instincts. Hence the need for society and morality.
Unfortunately, we've forgotten this, or stupidly thought we'd evolved past it. We've thrown The Basic Virtues over the side: Honesty... Ker-plunk! Thrift... Ker-plop! Prudence... Ker-splash!
And we wonder how the Wall Street four-flushers cheated us out of everything, and we can't understand why our governments and societies are bankrupt... Morally, intellectually, financially.
Look at Greece, America... It's a mirror:
When the crowd tried to storm the Greek parliament, shouting, “Thieves! Thieves!,” its anger was misdirected. It was a classic case of what Freudians call projection: the attribution to others of one’s own faults. [...]
The crime of that substantial proportion of the Greek population was to accept the bribe that the politicians offered; they were only too prepared to live well at someone else’s expense. The thieves were not principally the politicians, but the demonstrators.
There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
The Greek demonstrators did not understand, or did not want to understand, that if there were justice in the world, many people, including themselves, would be worse rather than better off, and that a reduction in their salaries and perquisites was not only economically necessary but just.
They had never really earned their wages in the first place; politicians borrowed the money and then dispensed largesse, like monarchs throwing coins to the multitudes.
It is an obvious but often forgotten lesson of economics: what cannot continue will not continue. (Know Thyself - Theodore Dalrymple)
