The Confucian Cycle: Chinas Sage and Americas Decline

2,500 years ago, the Chinese sage, Confucius, observed that all governments follow a cycle: from unity, through prosperity to stagnation, then to collapse and anarchy.
He taught that when government officials sought personal power or wealth instead of taking care of the people, society lost the "Mandate of Heaven" and fell apart.
By "Mandate of Heaven," Confucius meant that God Himself had directed how society should work. Chinese history shows 15 or 20 collapses when government lost virtue a...