I was watching one of our shared favorite shows last night and a line made me instantly think of you. The characters were discussing how it seemed unfair that a person who stood to benefit from something was the one who would head a council to oversee it. Their discussion went back to other cultures who maintained smaller bands of people, rather than larger governments. The man said scientists had recently discovered when tribes/bands maintained their numbers below 500, they didn't need government. They were able to govern themselves more like a family, sit down and discuss their grievances and troubles and settle differences without creating laws or policing. But once their numbers increased beyond 500, a government had to be created.

His point was, once government came into the picture, then you needed people to oversee that, plus laws, then police and courts to uphold those laws. But the bottom line for him was, you as an individual still, no matter what, couldn't care about the larger picture. You had to look out for yourself and your family and work within those laws (as well as you could) to make sure your family got what they needed. That it didn't matter if the country or larger group got what they needed, only your family.

And I think that was the perfect explanation for how this country (and many other larger groups) went away from looking out for the group vs the individual.

This was a wonderful piece with excellent points, as usual.