All this becomes far more intelligible if one takes an evolutionary, anthropological perspective on society.

Human emotions and behaviour evolved over millions of years to serve the individual and their family group in the struggle for survival and advantage in the "natural environment" (which included other, rival, groups of humans). With the advent of civilisation, for the individual, this Darwinian (blind, dumb-animal) struggle transferred to an increasing extent to an artificial, "socio-economic environment", where - today, greatly facilitated by free-market capitalism - it continues as the driving force of human activity.

The nation state provides a framework for our particular part of this "socio-economic environment" (or "social jungle"), where the individual is subject to conflicting drives: one, which sees the nation state (for us, Britain) as his "own family group", on whose support he is absolutely dependent, and thus owes his service and loyalty; and another, which sees the nation state as the wider "socio-economic environment", there to be exploited for his own individual advantage.

The aristocracy used the power of the SWORD, the Church, the power of the WORD to secure their members' respective positions (niches) in this hybrid of family group, i.e. "KINgdom" (to be served) and socio-economic environment (to be exploited). The development of free-market capitalism (to both serve and exploit the individual's animal nature and behaviour) and of liberal society, led to MONEY (the most versatile form of POWER) supplanting the sword and the word as the universal and most dominant form of power. All you NEED in the Darwinian struggle for survival and advantage in the modern world (in both the national and global "socio-economic environment") is MONEY (not LOVE, as John Lennon would have us believe).

The hybrid of family group, i.e. nation (to be served) and socio-economic environment (to be exploited) worked well enough, so long as sufficient people believed in it, or had no choice but to comply with it. And as pressure of the exploiters to exploit and of the exploited not to be exploited grew, free-market capitalism came up with a clever solution, allowing (no, encouraging) individuals to exploit the system (the socio-economic environment), i.e. make as much money, as possible, but requiring them to pay a proportion to the government in taxation, some of which was used to provide services to all "citizens" and to alleviate extreme poverty.

When social services and welfare were introduced on a massive scale following World War 2, Britain was still, more-or-less a "KINgdom", the vast majority of whose citizens still viewed THEIR state (Britain) as its "family group" to which, above all else, they owed service and loyalty (they had just spent 6 years fighting a war on its behalf), and which they would have been loath to "exploit" by making unwarranted use of the services and rights (e.g. sick pay) newly provided.

However, ever more citizens have realized that social services and welfare are just additions to the "socio-economic environment" to be exploited, if possible, to one's own individual advantage. At the top of the socio-economic hierarchy, the rich have got (have always had) their inherited wealth, unearned income, clever accountants, tax havens, etc. which they exploit to the full, while now, at the bottom, there's the welfare state to exploit.

Those in the middle - not rich enough to exploit unearned income etc., and not poor enough to exploit the welfare state - are left carrying the whole system, but looking for any opportunity to give less and take more.

My conclusion: the WHOLE system (being rooted in our primitive animal nature and behaviour - unsurprisingly, in view of what Charles Darwin is supposed to have taught us about human origins) is ROTTEN and in urgent need of RADICAL review.

My homepage http://www.spaceship-earth.org