A Way to Destroy a Society

B.W. Wojciechowski, April 2024

The threat I foresee is not entirely new,

but it is currently being witlessly implemented.

Where? in the USA.

Tempting Fate

Interestingly there is a modern and insidious way of destroying a society that requires no violence. It depends but peripherally on the activities of unfriendly powers. It does not require a hostile plot to activate it, though that helps. Societies can destroy themselves using their own “good” intentions.

Good intentions CAN pave the road to hell.

Recent history is replete with examples of a kind of political self-immolation. In the good old days, violent ways of destroying or reforming societies were routine. One might think we are making progress by doing it more peacefully. But modern methods of social destruction are just as painful and debilitating. They surprise even the thoughtful.

A Post-Feudal Ideology

Socialism was intended to create a better world. It has had a pervasive role in the structures of modern societies. Yet it, and its militant version, Communism, have resulted in tens of millions of deaths and have arguably done more harm than good. One must admit that some socialist tenets have had a positive influence, but fundamentalist trends in this ideology have caused a great deal of harm and not only killed millions but eliminated great swaths of freedoms. The (unavoidable?) sacrifices of “the masses,” some 94+ million dead in the name of socialist-inspired progress, did not eliminate bad policies, violence, or corruption.

Corruption is a great attractant in such systems. The upper echelons, being all-powerful, attract scofflaws and merciless power abusers. The principal danger for both their elites and commoners is not just a politically distorted legal system where laws can make innocent citizens criminally guilty of baseless accusations. No, the danger is that dominant ideological competitors may use state power to eliminate inconvenient opponents. Revolutionary France, Stalinist Russia, Mao’s Great Leap Forward, Hitler’s Ethnic Cleansing, and Pol Pot’s Cambodia come to mind as examples.

Among the societies that have suffered from declared “good” intentions are Argentina, Germany, Italy, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and many others. Those who descended into communism or its ideological cousins are perhaps the best-known sufferers but even those that have avoided this fate, like Argentina, are suffering long-term complications from bad but popular policies.

There is Plenty of Room for Error

So, who will be the next victim? Well, the USA is a prime candidate, though the European Union is a contender and China is on its way by a different route. In all these cases government spending is threatening stability. The recovery of victim societies may be no more certain than it has been for Argentinians. Argentina is an example of how difficult it is to recover from well-meaning, infectious, and unrealistic policies. France, another example of this ilk, has had 15 constitutions since its revolution and is presently governed as a fifth version of its republic. This illuminates the difficulty of getting things right even in societies claiming to be modern, rational, and democratic.

All this is due to the difficulty of controlling the ill-informed masses created by the radical ideals of the Age of Reason (or Enlightenment), a viewpoint that was meant to make social structures “just and rational” and is consonant with the seminal French Revolution. One has to admit that the French have, with time, handled the resulting social difficulties better than the Argentinians. However, do you think the USA could survive 15 constitutions shaping a succession of 5 reformations of the republic as a whole?

The reason for all this is that well-meaning policies are always at odds with reality if ideologues take control. Unfortunately, ideologues usually come to oversee their “inspired” social changes. Unfortunately, nature and reality are not founded on the dreams of ideologues. Nonetheless, due to commonly available ignorance and willful denial of reality, ideological “dreamers” are the ones who have the most dedicated following … too bad. Dreamers are not willing to face reality. Revolutions attract charlatans seeking untrammeled power cloaked in humanitarian goals. Think of France, Russia, and China in the last few centuries.

The Cardinal Sins of Western Democracies

This brings us to the quintessence of the troubles of current democracies, Government expenditures. Add to this the widespread problem of constitutions of democratic Governments that do not contain a requirement of term limits for the legislators. In recent times progress has been made, in that term limits for Presidents have been introduced. These in general have been beneficial. However, members of legislative bodies are rarely subject to term limits. This is a serious defect in the governance of democratic societies.

Not only are many elected members in office well past their time of utility, but they establish nearly unassailable constituencies by means fair and foul. Corruption is endemic. One reason for this is that elected members find their office not only ego-satisfying but also enriching beyond any justifiable means. As a result, they try to be re-elected for as long as possible. To do this they use their influence to seek rewarding and powerful connections and are sorely tempted to spend public money on “buying” votes.

The buying is done by creating (recognizing?) groups of voters who want to benefit from free government assistance. Appropriate legislation is passed and those legislators who vote for it get the votes of the grateful group of newly endowed constituents. Much ingenuity goes into discovering more groups of the “deserving” and subsidizing their needs.

This does not negate the fact that social support can be beneficial. Temporary and limited unemployment support is a good thing if properly managed. However, if extended beyond reasonable limits it can create a disincentive to seek employment, resulting in dependence on the government’s bounty, indolence, and lack of self-reliance in a segment of the population. That is a social minus. But then, the assured vote-buying benefits for legislators who promote this social spending defy good sense. There are many, many “benevolent” expenditures that the reader may easily identify. Another stealthy vote-buying scheme that is rarely mentioned is to systematically enlarge a coddled, unassailable, and overblown civil service whose contribution to the creation of wealth is never justified by an objective evaluation.

To pay for its many un-productive expenditures, the Government cannot count on unlimited taxation of the productive segments of society. Instead, they borrow money and burden future generations with debt. After all, our descendants cannot vote yet and there is no mechanism to punish past legislators for fiscal irresponsibility. Notice how vigorously legislators fight against a balanced budget amendment. They want no limits on their vote-buying generosity.

With no term limits and a lack of a balanced budget requirement, the social collapse of current democracies is just a matter of time. Only clever schemes can delay the day of reckoning. Governments have a splendid tool to stave this day off. It’s called “inflation.” What this does is it reduces the value of the currency, thereby reducing the burden of past debt. Old, valuable, dollars are repaid in new, inflated, dollars. A million dollars used to be a serious sum of money fifty years ago but now it is more like the value of the estate of an average middle-class family. Inflation is a hidden tax to repay old debts. It is a stealthy tax on the current and future population.

Other schemes shore up inflationary destruction with policies such as a government-mandated “minimum wage.” If that is raised by legislation it will buy votes, but it will not create wealth. One simply pays more dollars for the same hamburger. The currency has been devalued. Down we go on the slippery slope of bankruptcy. Most often the clever and the guilty will be the only ones to avoid the consequences.

Nature is unforgiving. If plants fail to produce the oxygen that animals need to breathe, animals will become extinct, no two ways about it. If a society spends more wealth than it creates it will go broke. Society may not disintegrate, France and Argentina are still with us, but the remnants do lose influence and may not prosper. Can anything be done?

Is There a Successful Democracy?

Switzerland is a successful society using a Direct Democracy style of government.

Swiss democracy, a form of communalism, can work, and bring peace and prosperity.

Yet, no one imitates Switzerland.

Why?

There are reasons why.

Democracy is an idea that has to be tailored to suit the society in which it will operate.

There is no One World. There is delightful and inspiring pluralism. The essentials of a successful democracy are justice, competence, lack of corruption, freedom of the individual, a successful and profitable economy, a minimally intrusive government, and meaningful input into policy by a well-educated and honestly informed citizenry. Much of this is what makes Switzerland a success. How close to this is the USA?

Current Western democratic governments are unwittingly (?) designed so that they will spend more than their wealth-creating enterprises produce. What is the unavoidable result? Inflation, bankruptcy, financial, and social ruin. Are we there yet? No, but we are getting close.

A Well-Meant Recommendation

At this point, I unashamedly recommend my book on Democracies.

It is available on Kindle and Amazon.com.

One can get it in e-form or paperback.

There I enlarge on other failings of our current concept of democracies and offer some solutions.

The current concept of democracy has failed and, while I am firmly for democracy,

I see a need for fundamental reconsideration.