Also notice that people who live only for themselves really care very little whether anyone engages in Response #3, since the end, if it comes, will probably not come in their lifetimes but rather in the lifetimes of their/our children or grandchildren. And many of these self-oriented folks would prefer that no one engage in Response #3, since, if they are intellectuals, they would much prefer to believe that nothing can be done and that they are therefore in no way derelict in their duty as intellectuals.
Unfortunately for the Qing Dynasty, they looked to old ideas and solutions within their existing Confucian system in their attempt to save themselves. The blame does not rest entirely with the Qing authority, but on their society as a whole. For even after the monarchy abdicated, the usual pattern of civil war at the fall of a dynasty was once again repeated, with rival aspirants for power fighting one another. Although our current global society differs greatly from the Qing Dynasty, we similarly share roadblocks to needed change and reform.
Our Roadblocks
In America's case, the capitalist dogma of endless consumption can never be seriously questioned in most circles, especially in a presidential campaign or major news forum. Although the world's consumer culture is unsustainable, our current capitalist system prevents the very changes necessary for reform from taking place. Within a shockingly short length of time, i.e. the 14 years since the beginning of our century, we have witnessed senseless wars, preventable environmental catastrophes, and the indisputable arrival of ever more destructive (but preventable) climate change.
Our problems lay much deeper than simply getting the right government regulations, for they are systemic in nature.
For corporations to exist in a free-market capitalist system, they must externalize cost-and-risk to the general public. Otherwise they can't remain profitable and competitive. Many cut corners and fail environmental safety regulations (during those times when proper regulations exist, which is certainly not all the time). The results have been the Fukushima disaster in the Pacific and the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, just to name a two, and yet none of these disasters are enough to spark serious change, i.e. change necessary for any appreciable number of our billions of earth inhabitants to survive into the next century.
Much like the elite members of Qing's society, the powerful 1% today have the biggest stake in our current system. A simple way of putting it is that our corporate oligarchy today profits from disaster, scarcity of resources (whether real or artificially created), and war; and will do all they can to prevent notions of economic democracy and green technology from challenging that system, from which they derive their power and wealth. Solutions and efficiency in technology, such as the electric car, have been deliberately destroyed by the very companies they threaten. A good documentary on this subject is Who Killed the Electric Car?
Additionally, much like the Qing, we often look to our own conventional wisdom and traditions for solutions, . . where none will ever exist. We try electing new Presidents who promise change and yet they inevitably start behaving like all their predecessors, caving in to the PTB, just as soon as they take the reins of power.
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