Ben, you've opened the box. In a good way.

Capitalism is bad, absolutely. I do believe there are better, more moral fiscal systems. But all -isms are faulty. Because humans, yes, are fallible. This is why the modern mantras of relative truth and individual experience are bogus. There must be something greater than ourselves guiding us, because it doesn't pan out if we all say we're right. This is why the US is "Great White Devil." Not in the Caucasian sense, but in the white-washed, holier-than-thou, neon-light-look-to-our-example-of-shining-equality sense. As a national culture, we are a beacon to the world, overtly suggesting that they can have whatever they want whenever they want it, and that it's all okay. Sometimes I think that if DC is our national brain, then Las Vegas is our national heart. Or Los Angeles. (Not to suggest these cities are "evil" in any sense, more to say that they have distinct cultures and represent specific drives and desires.)

I do wonder if the US (democracy/capitalism/relativism) is the next step in the evolution of human culture (the way our patriotic nationalism claims), inasmuch as we have finally found a way for most people to have most things--most people can "pursue happiness" to whatever end they can attain. The general moral and material reasoning is that as long as it is okay for EVERYONE to enjoy certain privileges, then it is okay for ME to have those privileges as well. We stop asking if it is healthy or beneficial for us--as humans or as a culture--to have certain privileges at all.

I think you're right, Ben: capitalism, culture, and lack of self-discipline are to blame. And individual human beings have been and are at the helm of each of those entities. In short, at our core we (read: collective humanity) don't want self-discipline, and that leaks into everything else we do. I think that capitalism, and even democracy, are very authentic depictions of the human soul. We want to care about everyone, we sometimes try very hard to care about everyone, but we really only care about ourselves.

This is why TRUE Jewish and Christian teachings are so revolutionary: the denial of self as the ultimate fulfillment of self. How impossible! How audacious! How odd that it is also completely unattainable without higher help...a complete denial of self? The antithesis to who we are as humans.