1 in very 100 adults is in jail

[Drake]

let's see now, we went from cave people, to neolithic people, to the bronze age, to the iron age, to the industrial age, to the nuclear age and now we sit at the edge again of progress and understanding.

I don't think we are that great of a failure to ourselves. I do believe there are a great deal of us who are unwilling to do much about anything and are satisfied to live our lives out and that's that.

Then there are some of us who push forward, always claiming new ground of understanding and knowing.

So, because of this more or less historical record of success that shows that aggressive iron hand type rulers rise and fall and collapse in the period of their life time, then I would say that this thinking is the backwards kind and not the kind that wants people as a whole to work together towards a better tomorrow.

Having said that, yes we will make mistakes, but how are we to learn. For instance, democracy today has taken a step backwards and right now doesn't look like much more than a dictatorship fo the majority. At least in the G8 countries that 's how it is at the moment. This is a flaw and is dangerous. It is important to not let aristocratic types take contreol of governments or to set in place rules of governance that destroy the foundations and good stuff of democracy.

in my opinion there is a need for change in the implementation of democracy. and it has to be a step to previous models and not a continuance of what there is now.

From that same historical perspective, then you'll also admit that most of our progress has been through war and conquering. The USA sits on what used to be someone else's home, people are fighting in the middle east about who oppressed who, and the very message board we argue on was the end result of a military project. Industrial modernization to fight the German war machine, nuclear research in order to best the Russians, countries forcibly brought into compliance by the European expansionists, and even modern aviation was all brought about by the art of war and conquering. All peace ever got anyone was a one way ticket to being on the short end of that stick (See Tibet, Native Americans, "neutral" WWII nations, etc).

So give me the story of peace and harmony all you like, but the fact is, we got to where we are by way of spear, sword, and ridiculously gigantic bombs.