Death is a fundamental part of the lifecycle process. Anything born must die one day. This concept applies to all the creations of humans. Nations are no different. The foundations of any nation are built on an ideology that is popularly accepted by its citizens. So we can consider the ideology as the soul of the nation.
If we look at history, we see that the average life of any nation is 250 years. With 800+ military bases around the world and a history of wars on different continents, the western civilization can collectively be termed as an Empire. There are different reasons that civilizations collapse. Most reasons can be found in the pages of ancient history, but some are modern. This further proves the notion that humans never learn from the past. (Link)
Here I describe similarities between the collapsing ancient civilizations and the current Western civilization. I have referred multiple sources and cross-referenced each country to determine the current relevance of the points mentioned here. Any other factors or causes that are not mentioned here are purposefully omitted, as they may not generally apply to other countries due to their limitations. This set of factors can be used as a template on any country to determine if and which stages of decline they are in. Therefore, for that purpose, I have tried best not to name any particular nation. This article is a Part 1 of a 2-part series.
Historical Reasons Why The Western civilization might face a collapse:-
Death of the Nation's Soul
Nations begins its decline phase when the leaders in power do not abide by the founding principles of the nation. Corruption is its first signal that shows that the nation is spiraling towards a collapse. When the leader is indulged in corruption, they are more focused on themselves rather than the people. When this phenomenon begins, we will see people with diabolical motives gaining control over the system and using it to serve their purpose. At that moment, we can see the beginning of the decoupling of the government and its people. This decoupling process, if not rectified, will slowly spread to all the aspects of the Government and finally will cause the failure of the constitution. We saw a similar transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. Dictators use these similar opportunities to gain control.
The corrupted leader in power will use state governmental institutions to consolidate their claim to the power even further. They amend laws and regulation to legalise their theft and bribery. A perfect example is the Revolving Door Theory. According to this theory, the corrupt lawmakers and regulators, instead of accept bribe as cash, they are promised high-paying jobs at multinational corporations with pension after their term in government office. These are the same corporations that have benefitted from the lawmaker's abuse of power. These types of corruption are one of many examples that may be considered as legalised theft.
To the readers who did not understand; think of corruption as a brain tumor and the nation as the human body. At the beginning stages, the tumor will be small and unnoticeable. As times goes on, and if not detected, this tumor will affect limbic system, ability to think, ability to see, etc. And finally, the tumor kills the brain. Similarly, if corruption is not uprooted, it will paralyse the nation.
The Endless War
When a nation enters a war economy, it sees an artificial rise in employment and economic growth. Manufacturing sectors linked, directly or indirectly, to the war see a major boost in income. The funding of the manufacturing sector is directly done by the government using taxpayers' money and debt. But, there is a certain limit to which taxes can be increased. Therefore, most countries rely on debt.
This kind of artificial growth, for a long duration, is detrimental for the general populace. The reason is- during every war, the primary focus is to win the battle, thereby neglecting internal matters. Neglection of internal matters causes a generational decline, which means the generation that are the inheritors has to deal with the problems that their predecessors had created due to negligence. If this cyclical process is allowed to continue, the real growth of the nation (not GDP and other numerical metrics) will be detached from reality.
Financial Malpractices
Financial Manipulation is the third stage in the nation's death spiral. To fund wars, money is needed; and when it is politically not possible to increase taxes without a populace's revolt, currency is devalued. During The Ancient Roman Empire, the edges of the coins were cut. This was a desperate measure to increase the funding for war. How?
Initially, the coins of Ancient Rome were stamped with the actual value of the precious metal contained in it. Gradually, due to the increase in population, lack of additional sources of precious metals, lavish social welfare programs to keep the populus from revolting and unnecessary war expenditure; the edges of coins were cut. This practice lead to the devaluation of the actual value of the coin, but since the Roman Empire had become a dictatorial regime by then, only the value printed on the coins were taken into consideration. To keep the populace happy, the government minted more coins from the metal they had cut from the existing coins to fund the war and the earlier mentioned lavish social service programs; without increasing the taxes, initially.
As more and more war-fronts emerged, malpractices also grew, like mixing non-precious metals in the coins and even stamping new values into the existing coins. Now you know why ancient coins in photos are mostly thin, irregularly cut and not in a circular form.
But why is this valid in the 21st century? Dear reader, you need to understand we humans never learn from history. Today, since we don't use coins anymore, we just print money and put a fancy term into this theft of taxpayers' trust in the monetary value of his earnings. When governments print more bank notes, the value of money in your pocket decreases. We all know this decrease of value as - inflation.
Deep Political Divide
As the monetary situation of the country worsens; the leaders, to strengthen their political power and to coverup their incompetence, blame anything or anyone they can find. Usually these accusations are done on migrants, refugees, poor people, previous governments and other political parties. Not on a national or a state-level, but on every aspect of life, a segregation of people will be made. We all know this technique as the Divide-and-Rule strategy. Once the mass segregation based on religion, color, race, nationality or any other divisive factors is complete, we can expect massive civil unrest and violence to pursue in the later stages that might even lead to a civil war.
Violence
Violence is a tool used by tyrant governments to subjugate the general populace by instilling fear. Violence can also invigorate an uprising against the draconian norms of the governments. Therefore, we can consider fear and violence as the two sides of a sword. When violence spreads uncontrollably, international businesses and other revenue generating entities move out of the nation. On the international stage, the nation will be humiliated on multiple occasions related to news of internal violence. Tourism and other businesses that are connected to the nation's pride and prestige will be impacted as the global population will look for alternatives.
Circus
Just like students graduating and moving from one class to another, corrupt politicians and 'political king-makers' move away from the direct sight of the public. By using the immense political and governmental power they have amassed over the years through corruption, they 'appoint' clowns and puppets to office to do their dirty work for them. Since the people no longer see the actual source of power and control, they are immune to public anger and judicial proceedings against them. These puppet masters eventually become a part of parallel government or secret government. ("Deep State").
After that, elections become nothing but an organised mockery of the constitution, where people have to elect one clown amongst the choices of clowns to 'lead' them. There is a famous saying ‒ " If you elect a clown, expect a circus".
To divert people's attention from genuine issues happening in the country, distraction becomes state sponsored through lavish social programs, entertainments and sporting events. Roman Colosseum is an ancient example of that where gladiators fought and killed each other to entertain people. Today, it is even simpler. We have smartphones and social media where daily the politicians themselves entertain and distract the general populace for free.
Population Decline and Societal Collapse
When the trust in the government fails, people's hopes for their future turns bleak. They migrate in search of security and peace. When people migrate from developed countries, they do it for their security, tax benefits and peaceful retirement (in most cases). In this video, a world war 2 veteran describes his sadness regarding the current condition of his country.
And those people who refuse to migrate, comprising poor and middle-class people, will have to undergo a tough transition. As inflation due to mismanagement takes grip, income falls and taxes rise. To adjust to this, most families will be forced to take multiple jobs just to pay their utility bills. Education will become a luxury and the general populace can no longer afford college fees. The colleges supported by the state sponsored welfare programs lose their credibility as they become dens of illicit political recruitments of younger neglected generation, who have no prospects in life, to be used as goons for the political class. Now you know why no descendant of crooked politicians takes part in violent marches and riots that get shot at, killed, and jailed! Why should they send their children when they can send yours? Think about it!
As raising a family becomes expensive, marriage rate decline, thereby destroying the fundamental pillar of the nation- the family. The destruction of family structure cascades to the destruction of communities. Community-based business go extinct and unemployment at the basic level increases. We could mark this as the beginning stages of a societal collapse.
The decline in birth rate financially means less tax collection and less labour. Therefore, to compensate for that, during ancient times, slaves were brought from colonies. Today, borders are opened and migrants are brought in for labour using false promises and outdated expectations. The side effects are societal change, cultural change, demographic change and a change in the national identity. It can be good or bad because it depends on the people that are allowed to enter the country.
Decline of IQ
When cost-of-living rises and colleges/schools become expensive, education will become irrelevant. People will be more focused on any kind of job to avoid hunger and foreclosures. When this kind of trend happens on a national level, we see genuine talent leaving the country. Research, innovation and all other aspects of a nation's development will have a major impact. As superpowers, to have a leverage over opponents, innovation and development of all aspects of human life is essential to maintain a perfect balance sustainably.
As IQ declines over the generations, people become dumber. Activities that were once considered taboo a few decades ago will be rebranded as tradition, cultural evolution and new national identity. They will be forced to indulge themselves in such nefarious activities to find a purpose in their life. Quick fame and easy money will become normalized. These types of income have no productive output. And to save themselves from ridicule, they unionize and propagandize their narrative. They oppose, defame, and cancel people that have a different opinion, even if they don't speak about it in public. Without the knowledge of parents, who themselves are engaged in multiple jobs for their survival, their children will be indoctrinated with such thoughts and ideas from a very young age. The sad part is that - these activities may be supported and encouraged on a national level by the government to increase tax sources and to distract the public.
As this rot spreads silently, those affected and fearful of the repercussion will retire or migrate to other countries. Always remember this- Talent moves to places where they are respected.
Complexity in Governance
If insurance documents were well written to be easily understood by the common people, no one would ever want it. There won't be an insurance market. People will themselves set aside funds for emergency use; rather than indirectly paying commission to the insurance agents and funding the helicopter rides of the CEOs. Similarly, most of the goods and services sold are useless and unnecessary. It is the complexity and marketing that makes it attractive. Ambiguity through complexity makes it unquestionable; because you can never completely comprehend what it is.
Complexity in governance helps politicians and criminals by giving them their golden ticket to a peaceful sleep ‒‒ loopholes in judicial proceedings. Since there are excellent lawyers and law enforcement officers at their behest, crooked politicians will rarely get jailed.
Do you think I am joking? Try doing research on judicial proceedings of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. The financial crisis took 30 trillion dollars from the world's wealth; more than 30 million people lost jobs and businesses; 10 million people lost their homes to foreclosures and 10,000 people committed suicide. This is an approximate estimate because the real extent of the damage can never be calculated. Only a banker named Kareem was jailed and that too for hiding company losses. The relief funds given to the banks were used to pay bonuses and increase salaries for bank executives. After all this, no politician/business executives were arrested.
Detachment from Reality
As the condition of the nation deteriorates, so does the health of its citizens. Both physical and mental health of its citizens deteriorates at a rapid pace mainly due to neglection or lack of affordable health care. There is a famous phrase by Gerald Celente "When people have nothing to lose, and they have lost everything, they lose it all".
When the future prospects of the nation are nothing but suffering, people tend to care less about their lives and try to live in a fantasy dreamland. For this they seek refuge in psychedelic drugs, spurious alcohol and other synthetic neuro chemical compounds to stimulate their brain. These dangerous elements will most likely be funded by other countries. Some drugs even have uncontrollable violence as a side effects like Flakka. This is a youtube video that shows a women terrorising people after consuming such drugs.
If there is a total detachment from reality, then we can consider most part of the general populace as mindless zombies. With a brain under the complete control of drugs and having easy access to military grade weapons, people will fight each other for nonsensical issues.
(As of 28th October 2022, we can say that most Western nations are in this phase. From adults to even children are being diagnosed with chronic depression. People are slowing becoming mindless zombies and thereby turning nations into a giant mental asylum.)
Enemy's Revenge (Karma)
During the golden age of any civilization, through conquest and military expansionism, it creates enemies that later seek revenge for the pain that was once inflicted on them. This could be rivals or former colonies. But one thing is for sure that an invisible hand will always work towards the destruction of a powerful nation, thereby weakening that nation before a coordinated attack can be launched against them.
Since the incumbent superpower nation is primarily delusional, militarily uncoordinated and internally fractured to its core, it needs to focus more on itself just to delay a collapse. Meanwhile, those nations, that were destroyed by these superpowers, will only have to focus on its main objective. For such nations, internal matter only needs less effort from the Government because there exists a political will amongst its people for a national rejuvenation.
To be Continued....
The remaining part of this article will be published in the coming days. There I will describe modern factors that can lead to a collapse, how a collapse can be prevented, and finally how we can survive in case a collapse happens.
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NOTE: This article does not intend to malign or disrespect any person on gender, orientation, color, profession, or nationality. This article does not intend to cause fear or anxiety to its readers. Any personal resemblances are purely coincidental.
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