Culture

"Every political-economic system stands on a foundation, the society’s culture. Ultimately, culture is a tacit system of values and virtues that guide the everyday activities of the people. When the political-economic system is out of sync with a society’s underlying cultural values, the result is instability, which most likely will result in a transformation of the system in the direction of those values. For example, the political economy originally known as liberalism—based on the institutions of individual rights, private property, personal responsibility (individualism), free markets, and the rule of law—requires cultural attitudes consistent with those institutions. Should there develop widespread resentment against achievement, accumulation of wealth, privacy, and consumption, the foundation of liberal institutions will inevitably erode and eventually collapse. Authoritarianism and even totalitarianism will likely follow."