So many good commenters here. BC is the place to be. Nomenklatura, you nailed it. The UK experience was harbinger of our own. (Yes, every case is different: in the specifics. But in the fundamental human tendency to seek free lunch and self-justify, no, the dynamic is unfortunately unchanging.) Just a quick anedote to corroborate your point about UK in the 70′s. I was at school in UK in 1974 and at Xmas attended a “high table” dinner with all the pomp: black tie, many wines, la di da. Just when the cigars were being served, the power –. Went out. Of course, we chuckled and made do with candles, stiff upper lip, what? But in that instant, as an outsider, I saw the crash of a civilization. It was the time of the tyrannical unions, striking ad lib, shutting things down like babies in a tantrum. And the government too clueless, too gutless to solve the riddle. Now in this country we have the same, only more so. Because the unions own the government. And the government owns us.

Well, until we get our act together. One of the most heartening things about places like BC is that it is obvious there are many exceptional minds and wills already fully aware of what is going on, what will happen next, and beginning to self-organize. What is the Web equivalent of Paul Revere? The Minutemen?