Why do great Nations fail?

[get_involved]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx7fNQcJAjs[/ame]

 

[RetiredGySgt]

They fail because they become rich and lazy. The socialists take over and pay for people to not work, eventually no one is working and everything collapses.

 

[editec]

Why do great Nations fail?​

HUBRIS​

Either the leaders themselves fall victim to it, or the leaders are operating with a hidden agenda and they use the hubris of the people to create the downfall.​

But in both cases it's ultimately hubris that brings down the mighty.​

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Great nations fail when Progressives finally fool a critical mass of people into thinking that their way is the best

 

[Douger]

Because their citizens become too stupid to vote.

 

[LiberalNut]

A book I was forced to read in college is bubbling up in my memory. The Rise and Fall of Great Nations was it's name. main thesis...Great Nations fall because they invariably overreach their capabilities, get bogged down in foriegn wars and internal strife, eventually falling.

 

[The T]

They fail because they become rich and lazy. The socialists take over and pay for people to not work, eventually no one is working and everything collapses.

Greed. Moral collapse.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

In a few choice words:

Complacency
Laziness

 

[kyzr]

GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

Um...politicians are VOTED in.
If they are corrupt etc. etc. it is because the people don't vote or don't take any time to figure out who they are voting for.

You are describing a symptom not a cause.

 

[kyzr]

GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

Um...politicians are VOTED in.
If they are corrupt etc. etc. it is because the people don't vote or don't take any time to figure out who they are voting for.

You are describing a symptom not a cause.

You are assuming that voters actually have a fair choice. No one knows who they are voting for except for incumbents based on their records. but even records are misleading, "The American Jobs Creation Act" is an example, it actually gives tax breaks to move US jobs overseas.

Voters have no clue what pols will do after elected, except to whore for special interest money.

 

[GunZawga]

Why do great Nations fail?​

HUBRIS​

Either the leaders themselves fall victim to it, or the leaders are operating with a hidden agenda and they use the hubris of the people to create the downfall.​

But in both cases it's ultimately hubris that brings down the mighty.​

Thank GOD there is intelligent life here!


The belief in "American exceptionalism? may be the most obvious example of Hubris in the history of humanity.

American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr argued that the automatic assumption that America acts for the good will bring about moral corruption. After the second world war, Niebuhr repeated his claim by focusing on the immoral nature of the atomic bomb and the irony that such an immoral weapon was used by a nation claiming the moral high ground over communism.

Looks as if Reinhold was a prophet!

 

[iamwhatiseem]

GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

Um...politicians are VOTED in.
If they are corrupt etc. etc. it is because the people don't vote or don't take any time to figure out who they are voting for.

You are describing a symptom not a cause.

You are assuming that voters actually have a fair choice. No one knows who they are voting for except for incumbents based on their records. but even records are misleading, "The American Jobs Creation Act" is an example, it actually gives tax breaks to move US jobs overseas.

Voters have no clue what pols will do after elected, except to whore for special interest money.

Exactly my friend...but you are once again describing a symptom.
The problem is complacency and lazy idle people.
People don't know because they falsely believe that things will always be alright.

 

[Sunni Man]

Great nations fail when they become involved in a war in Afghanistan.

 

[The T]

GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

Um...politicians are VOTED in.
If they are corrupt etc. etc. it is because the people don't vote or don't take any time to figure out who they are voting for.

You are describing a symptom not a cause.

Originally Posted by kyzr
GREEDY POLITICIANS - sell out the citizens to special interests, gutting their own economy, making others more powerful, giving more and more entitlements they are unable to pay for, needing to borrow more, eventually leading to collapse.

Forgive me here? But I was under the impression that he had described a cause?

Interesting.

 

[The T]

Um...politicians are VOTED in.
If they are corrupt etc. etc. it is because the people don't vote or don't take any time to figure out who they are voting for.

You are describing a symptom not a cause.

You are assuming that voters actually have a fair choice. No one knows who they are voting for except for incumbents based on their records. but even records are misleading, "The American Jobs Creation Act" is an example, it actually gives tax breaks to move US jobs overseas.

Voters have no clue what pols will do after elected, except to whore for special interest money.

Exactly my friend...but you are once again describing a symptom.
The problem is complacency and lazy idle people.
People don't know because they falsely believe that things will always be alright.

Another cause my friend. There are many causes for the title of the OP.

 

[GunZawga]

It seems as if the OP is intended to make it appear that CHINA will become a Great Nation due to TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT in the U.S. and our "socialistic" leanings. ----- Rather odd attempt at correlation at best. The TEA party bunch are truly easily manipulated by simple sound bites and juvenile concepts.

 

[Modbert]

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Succeed or Fail answers this question pretty well I think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed

He also lists 12 environmental problems facing mankind today. The first eight have historically contributed to the collapse of past societies:
Deforestation and habitat destruction
Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
Water management problems
Overhunting
Overfishing
Effects of introduced species on native species
Overpopulation
Increased per-capita impact of people

Further, he says four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future societies:
Anthropogenic climate change
Buildup of toxins in the environment
Energy shortages
Full human utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity

Diamond also writes about cultural factors, such as the apparent reluctance of the Greenland Norse to eat fish. The root problem in all but one of Diamond's factors leading to collapse is overpopulation relative to the practicable (as opposed to the ideal theoretical) carrying capacity of the environment. The one factor not related to overpopulation is the harmful effect of accidentally or intentionally introducing nonnative species to a region. Diamond also states that "it would be absurd to claim that environmental damage must be a major factor in all collapses: the collapse of the Soviet Union is a modern counter-example, and the destruction of Carthage by Rome in 146 BC is an ancient one. It's obviously true that military or economic factors alone may suffice" (p. 15).

 

[GunZawga]

Forgive me here? But I was under the impression that he had described a cause?

Interesting.[/QUOTE]



You shall be forgiven based on your inability to differentiate between the cause and the effect.What "caused" the politicians to become greedy and allowed them to stay?

Simplistic one liners are the purview of simple minds.

 

[uscitizen]

Why do great Nations fail?

United we stand divided we fall.
Pretty simple.