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This is the conclusion I've come to. Societal decay causes nations with even the most solid foundations to topple. There's really no way around it. A phrase to

This is the conclusion I've come to. Societal decay causes nations with even the most solid foundations to topple. There's really no way around it. A phrase to summarize the phenomenon is: "Politics is downstream from culture." We focus too much on slapping bandaids on society through increasing bloat of government and adding more laws to the pile, when the real root of the problem is our culture is falling apart. No amount of laws is going to fix that. I parallel it to medications. You get one illness, so you get prescribed a medication. But then that medication causes an unusual reaction with your body, so you're given another medication to fix that one. But that medication has adverse effects when taken in conjunction with the first one, so now you need to take another medication to fix that... and it continues until you have a daily ritual of popping 20 pills to solve a trivial health condition. The US is taking way too many medications, and not going on the proper diet to solve its health issues. That can be said both literally, and in the metaphorical sense.

araes 3y ago
You use the phrase Societal Decay. I think you can say it has many similarities to a corpse. Not to be gross, just you get a lot of the same terms. The country freezes in rigor mortis, and can no longer take actions. Politics or governance often feels like its experience brain death. You get bloat and deflating effects, bubbles that inflate and pop. You get a lot of social events that humans would describe as "putrid". You get flight or escape of those that can leave for a new host, others flee to the remaining healthy areas. You have external "parasites" / enemies removing portions of the empire/nation. The process usually results with breakup and collapse in prior body segments.
- Jensson 3y ago
  Heart disease fits the best. Your heart is dying, it can't pump blood properly. To compensate it tries to grow larger, it swells and you get a giant heart. At some point it collapses since the problem was that the heart was leaky or the arteries got clogged or the muscles has some issue etc, growing larger can compensate in the short term but eventually you die anyway. So it is similar to how a government that tries to grab more power and become larger is a red flag for corruption or inefficiency. The problem isn't that it tries to grow, the problem is that it is corrupt and inefficient in the first place, the country is then dying no matter what. Countries can be replaced however, and small governments are easier to replace than large ones, so ideally should fix the government before it grows too large and powerful to easily be replaced.

araes 3y ago

You use the phrase Societal Decay. I think you can say it has many similarities to a corpse. Not to be gross, just you get a lot of the same terms. The country freezes in rigor mortis, and can no longer take actions. Politics or governance often feels like its experience brain death. You get bloat and deflating effects, bubbles that inflate and pop. You get a lot of social events that humans would describe as "putrid". You get flight or escape of those that can leave for a new host, others flee to the remaining healthy areas. You have external "parasites" / enemies removing portions of the empire/nation. The process usually results with breakup and collapse in prior body segments.

Jensson 3y ago
Heart disease fits the best. Your heart is dying, it can't pump blood properly. To compensate it tries to grow larger, it swells and you get a giant heart. At some point it collapses since the problem was that the heart was leaky or the arteries got clogged or the muscles has some issue etc, growing larger can compensate in the short term but eventually you die anyway. So it is similar to how a government that tries to grab more power and become larger is a red flag for corruption or inefficiency. The problem isn't that it tries to grow, the problem is that it is corrupt and inefficient in the first place, the country is then dying no matter what. Countries can be replaced however, and small governments are easier to replace than large ones, so ideally should fix the government before it grows too large and powerful to easily be replaced.