Thumos Leads to Thuous

The thing is, there is no reason why such attempts at social engineering won't happen. Think of the "workers' paradise" (enforced; barbed wire to keep workers in, not to protect from outsiders); think North Korea today (citizens still believe they won the 1950s); think Papa Doc - François Duvalier - and the prison-camp of Haiti.

As the current health care debate in particular and economic debacle in general show, cultural shifts can and often do take place without any formal legislative or judicial leadership. When the culture's centripetal force becomes sufficiently weak, the nearest or most fascinating influence often accrues enough prestige to start large societal shifts.

What René Girard's mimetic theory shows, however, is the direction the gradient of the cultural swirl is taking us. It is the exact same place that Saint Paul astutely discerns as the ending place of sin; namely, sacrifice (Gr. thuous). For a longer explication of these anthropological realities see Paganism I, II, III.