Every era needs its fateful prophecy to warn mankind of the dangers of the future without urgent attention to reforms, but the fate of prophecy is still the voice of shouting in the wilderness. Niall Ferguson is never allowed to suffer this fate because the issues he asks require urgent attention. Modern civilization was established and maintained by a network of large institutions such as Ferguson as a representative government, free market, rule of law and civil society. By demonstrating how each of them degrades and requires radical reforms, Ferguson presents an epoch-making challenge to the leaders and people of Western democracies.
The core theme of Ferguson's argument is that people's community awareness has weakened. Individuals become more self-centered and pursue their own goals regardless of others. This has led to huge differences in income and wealth, which has further contributed to the division of the community. Legitimate and illegal immigrants are often accused of coming to Western countries in order to take advantage of more affluent economic opportunities, but indigenous peoples behave in the same way and enjoy inheritance, while ignoring the system of cultivating early economic development. generation.
Ferguson provided many examples of community degeneration, from a sharp decline in the membership of voluntary organizations to the fall of the rule of law to the rule of lawyers. In all walks of life, people are using their privileges to enhance their wealth and power, while reducing the sense of service to the community. Now, this is more obvious than transforming cooperatives, associations and building associations into private companies and banks.
Niall Ferguson's book should be a must-read for anyone who aspires to hold a public office in a Western democracy. One politician who seems to respond is David Cameron, who promoted a great society, called Ferguson to demand a higher level of volunteerism, and realized that people can still do a lot to help themselves. Ferguson recommends that people accept a greater degree of personal responsibility and combine it with lower levels of government regulation on a trust basis.
When calling for higher moral standards, Ferguson is close to advocating a spiritual renaissance, and it is difficult to see how modern conditions will occur. People recall the slow demise of the moral reconstruction movement decades ago. If Ferguson is seen as a prophet, it will be economic and political liberalism, but this is the same as what he calls the crisis of applied philosophy. Like the prophecies of the past, he is not going to bring a new religion, but to transform the old religion; it would be interesting to see if his disciples gave him a new name for his message.
Orignal From: Book Review: The Great Fall of Niall Ferguson
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