Our biggest problem is the many decades of peace and prosperity we have had since WW2. I love peace and prosperity as much as anyone else but I am starting to think that the complacency it breeds is the heart of the problem. Complacency allows every stupid idea to gain a foothold and at the same time allow the political elites to use each and every "crisis" (think CAGW, "terrorism", whatever)as a pretext to extend their power over us.They justify lying to us on "noble cause" grounds.
You mention lies from our leaders. Too true. We have become accustomed to overlooking lies,and will ignore them instead of punishing the liars. In a real electorate Gillard would not have been game to show her face. It's not her alone by any means though. The media has become accustomed to being the interpreter news and the purveyor of propaganda.Instead of brave independent reporting they have become like Joh's ckooks, waiting to be fed and therefore coopted.
The other thing that works against a good society is the large number of people infected with the ideology of political correctness. Another name is cultural marxism, and one characteristic is a self hatred and a hatred of one's society and culture. You may have seen the threads on muslim immigration here. the most vehement posts were those supporting the immigration of incompatable cultures. It's like an automimmune disease where the body starts attacking itself. Only PC idiots could believe such rubbish (amongst many other things) but our complacency and desire for a nice quiet peaceful existence with no arguments or hassles allows this garbage to spread.
