This is turning into quite an interesting thread !
Lots of people have put forward lots of views here, all of which I respect. There are so many problems facing our species, and I don't believe the solution is by any means as easy as we would like to think. I'd like to just give my views as they currently stand, based on my experience of life. I'm always open to change. I'm not saying "this is how it is", I'm saying "this is my current opinion", right or wrong.
I've always been an anarchist (anarchy literally means "no ruler"), and have shied away from politics and politicians all my life. I've tried on numerous occasions to get out of the rat-race, and have ALWAYS been thrown straight back in !! Back in the early 90's I believed that there was going to be some big spiritual awakening and that humanity would learn to live in harmony. Now I'm not so certain.
The last 10 years has brought an unbelievable amount of change in my life, I've explored the darkest depths of my being, looked at all those things that we consign to our shadow, been through turmoil, confusion, pain. By living through my experiences, and also through reading a wide variety of literature, I've seen that the human condition now is actually no different from how it's always been, we just like to think we're more evolved. I also believe that the trials and tribulations we suffer are actually the whole point of living ! What HAS changed is that a lot of our problems are being focussed into a global situation, giving us an opportunity to work through the issues and, hopefully, grow.
We've all heard of the maxim "as above, so below", well I can see how we can take this and apply it to the fields of human health, and I'm talking about spiritual/mental health here too. Dennis has stated that the USA is the most corrupt nation on Earth, and while I don't disagree, I think we need to see a broader picture, I would say thet the Western military/industrial complex is the prime mover here, via the USA admittedly, but previously it was via Britain, (so I'm NOT USA-bashing here folks !) The similarities between the USA (previously Britain) and cancer are striking - in cancer, cells replicate without any consideration for the health of the organism, they multiply in a chaotic fashion, and eventually, they start to invade other organs, until death ensues. If we look at the USA, and particularly its' attitude toward the rest of the world, what do we see ....... ?
So, in my view, Western style "democracy" does not work.
For the last 3 years I've been living in China. My initial view of this country was that here is a place where, for the first time in my life, after visiting 27 other countries, I can see a society which works. Bear with me folks, don't misinterpret what I'm saying ! They have a very strong sense of collective identity, people mostly live in harmony with each other, people don't complain all the time, they accept leadership (more on that later) and they understand the concept of working together to achieve something. And what's more, the government actually spend its' money on improving people's lives.
There are plenty of things wrong here, so I am categorically NOT saying it's a utopia, merely that it's the best I've seen so far, and that there are things we can learn.
So what have I learned ? Believe me, this has been a tough one for me ! As I said, I've always been an anarchist and this is still a fairly strong part of my nature, but living here has shown me that wise leadership is actually a good thing. On a personal level, we need a degree of self-discipline and spiritual guidance, think "higher-self" if you like. Well, I think the same is true on a collective level. If we look at Western countries, the leadership we have is far from wise ! Changing the situation in the USA, Britain etc. is not going to be possible using the same paradigm that created the problem in the first place. I also beleive that while China is an OK place at the moment, the writing is on the wall and there are many problems ahead.
I don't know what the answer is, and I'm not ashamed of that; the older I've got, the less I "know". Perhaps the best model by far is the way that indigenous people used to live, with a council of wise elders (if there's anyone here with indigenous blood, please enlighten us).
Thank you for reading this far, as I said earlier, I'm not claiming to know what the solution is, I'm merely giving an observation, which is as flawed as I am and which may not jive with everyone.
Hoping we can make progress, for the benefit of ALL Earth's beings, and blessings to you all, Philip