Pardon my delay in following up. Since I did not get direct answer I felt it necessary to take time and consider my restatement.  It feels as if the empires of the western world have grown too big and too cumbersome to prevent some type of collapse that will affect everyone.Increasingly the weight of national debt, a bureaucracy that seems to multiply exponentially promulgating punishing laws and regulations, the militarization of nearly every aspect of law enforcement, and the nearly laughable classification of benign and often laughably harmless fringe groups as possible terrorists that seems to hint at a deep rooted government paranoia of the citizenry and disconnect from basic economic, social and ethical reality, all of which seem to foster more distrust and disdain of the government by the citizenry.  In my knowledge base and experience, this historically leads downhill to despotism, financial collapse, the guillotine, and worse.Accept that I don't think, as you stated, that I feel I'm living in the worst of times, becuase I don't.  (I'm a prosperous lucky SOB who repeatedly falls in crap and comes out smelling like roses.)  Accept that my concerns are for your children and grandchildren.  (I don't have any children and my genuine concerns are that we don't go backwards and that things continue to improve for all.)CHALLENGE – Cite me a historical reference of a similar civilization teetering on the edge of collapse, that was able to alter course and return to a stable economic, political and social foundation.