A counter-point or counter-perspective, would be the ongoing disabuse of those of us who were raised and... well, "indoctrinated", to believe in the paramountcy

A counter-point or counter-perspective, would be the ongoing disabuse of those of us who were raised and... well, "indoctrinated", to believe in the paramountcy of e.g. "the rule of law". During the course of my adult life, I've tried to hold true to that and other principles, only to have life show me with increasing discomfort and personal loss that, no, really, that's not the way the world works. It has not worked that way and it does not today work that way. Nor does it even appear to be a realistic ideal towards which the world is striving. Much of moral sentiment (as opposed to actual, demonstrated moral behavior) appears -- increasingly apparently, to me -- to be used to dupe the willing into sacrificing their own best interests. Sad story is, perhaps, that in the long run this may also create or at least exacerbate larger conflagrations. Because people have not been taking care of their own affairs and their own neighborhoods. At least, that's the approach I now, belatedly, consider. Nothing else is going to work for me, if my own life is not in some sort of reasonable state. Regardless of what some law, educator, or religious authority has to say.