And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, with holding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions . . .
Such a sorry picture these words paint!
Today, instead of giving my own personal commentary on Helaman's words, I would like to share some quotes by Will Durant, an American writer historian and philosopher. He was born in 1885 and died in 1981. He is best known, along with his wife Ariel, for the 11 volume series they wrote called The Story of Civilization. After spending a lifetime studying history they wrote another book called The Lessons of History. The quotes on this page are from that book and they echo Helaman's concerns as he watched his nation suffer. As the Durants would say,
"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within."
or
"When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near."
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In progressive societies the concentration of wealth may reach a point where the strength of numbers in the many poor rivals the strength of ability in the few rich; then the unstable equilibrium generates a critical situation, which historically has been met by legislation redistributing wealth or by revolution redistributing poverty.
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All deductions having been made, democracy has done less harm, and more good, then any other form of government. It gave to human existence a zest and camaraderie that outweighed its pitfalls and defects. It gave to thought and science and enterprise the freedom that is essential to their operation and broke. It broke down the walls of privilege and class, and in each generation it raised up ability from every rank and place. Under its stimulus Athens and Rome became the most creative cities in history, and America in two centuries has provided abundance for an unprecedentedly large proportion of its population. Democracy has now dedicated itself resolutely to the spread and lengthening of education, and to the maintenance of public health. If equality of educational opportunity can be established, democracy will be real and justified. For this is the vital truth beneath its catch words: that though men cannot be equal, their access to education and opportunity can be made more nearly equal. The rights of man are not rights to office and power, but the rights of entry into every avenue that may nourish and test a man's fitness for office and power. A right is not a gift of God or nature but a privilege which it is good for the group that the individual should have.
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The fear of capitalism has compelled socialism to widen freedom; and the fear of socialism has compelled capitalism to increase equality. East is West and West is east, and soon the twain will meet.
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So the conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it - perhaps much more valuable as roots are more vital than grafts.
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If race or class war divides us into hostile camps, changing the political argument into blind hate, one side or the other may overturn the hustings (campaigning) with the rule of sword. If our economy of freedom fails to distribute wealth as ably as it created it, the road to dictatorship will be open to any man who can persuasively promise security to all; and a martial government, under whatever charming phrase, will engulf the democratic world.
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Animals eat one another without qualm; civilized men consume one another by due process of law.
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Violent revolutions do not so much redistribute well as destroy it. There may be a re-division of land, but the natural inequality of men soon recreates an inequality of possessions and privileges, and raises to power a new minority with essentially the same instincts as the old. The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character; the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionists are philosophers and saints.
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Economic development specializes functions, differentiates abilities, and makes men unequally valuable to their group.
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We conclude that the concentration of wealth is natural and inevitable, and is periodically alleviated by violent or peaceable partial redistribution. In this view all economic history is the slow heartbeat of the social organism, a vast social organism and diastole of concentrating wealth and compulsive re-circulation.
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The influence of geographic factors diminishes as technology grows. The character and contour of a terrain may offer opportunities for agriculture, mining, or trade, but only the imagination and initiative of leaders, and the hardy industry of followers, can transform the possibilities into fact. Man, not the earth, makes civilization.
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Until our states become members of a large and effectively productive group, they will continue to act like individuals and families in the hunting stage.
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The present is the past rolled up for action, and the past is the present unrolled for understanding.
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We frolic in our emancipation from theology but have we developed a natural ethic - a moral code independent of religion - strong enough to keep our instincts of acquisition, pugnacity (quick to argue) and sex from debasing our civilization into a mire of greed, crime, and promiscuity? Have we really outgrown intolerance, or merely transferred it from religious to national, ideological, or racial hostilities?
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In the last 3421 years of recorded history only 268 have seen no war.
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Normally and generally men are judged by their ability to produce - except in war, when they are ranked according to their ability to destroy.
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Post Script: It has been said of Will Durant that "He was trying to improve understanding of viewpoints of human beings and to have others forgive foibles and human waywardness. He chided the comfortable insularity of what is now known as Eurocentrism by pointing out in Our Oriental Heritage that Europe was only "a jagged promontory of Asia". He complained of "the provincialism of our traditional histories which began with Greece and summed up Asia in a line" and said they showed "a possibly fatal error of perspective and intelligence". (Wikipedia)
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