As long as the majority of people continue to believe that the best idea is to create a ruling class who are exempt from the rules they create for the rest of society, these are the types of results one should expect.

When anyone wants to gain at the expense of others, all one has to do is go to the ruling class who are already exempt from the rules and gain their favors.

This is the 'hole in the boat', 'the weakest link in the chain' through which the corruption flows.

Once you establish a group of people who are exempt from the rules, you've already created the corruption - the source of imminent failure.

"Those who do not learn from history are forced to repeat it."
~George Santayana

"If there is one thing we've learned from history it's that we haven't learned from history."
~?