Long term view or outlook and planning is unique to agrarian societies. When the decisions you make today, effect your ability to eat next year, you tend to develop a long term view.The Annoyed Man wrote:I am pessimistic because I have no faith in human nature to act in any other way than immediate self-gratification. People who take the long term view are too rare. They didn't used to be rare, but they are now. It would take decades to rebuild a predominantly self-denying adult population, and during those decades, the culture would continue sliding downhill...... because it won't begin to turn around until the wise are in the majority.
The U.S. ceased being a majority agrarian society in the late 19th century. As folks left the land and began working in an urban/industrial environment their outlook began to change. How do you feed yourself and your family tomorrow? Next week? No root cellar, no spring house, no mason jars, no stock, no game.
Farming and the land that supported it, was/is the basis for civilization. The evolution of Western Civilization is the product of farming and self reliance. Greek City States, founded by farmers. Roman Republic, founded by farmers. These United States of America, founded by farmers. Heck the U.K. move to constitutional monarchy was a product of the growth of the yeomanry(farmers with the ability to shoot sharp/pointy things through armor).
Your posts on the dissolution of these United States recognize that the rural/farming/ranching areas of the country have different outlooks/values/morality than our urban brethren. Perhaps my thesis explains why.
Oh, and dissolution please, not Balkanization. Balkanization is by definition an extremely violent fragmentation of a state or region.