The three pillars of society (social, political and economic/financial) are the necessary supports for any functional society.  The more they operate as integrated systems the more that a society will become stable.  When these three pillars become unstable and dysfunctional (social riots, political rebellions, economic meltdowns) society as a whole becomes less and less functional, and then dysfunctional as we see in Iraq (8.2014), and Libya, Tunisia, Lebanon, Gaza Strip, etc, etc.  Societal collapse soon follows:  Syria. 

Rhetoric aside, what would a democratic society do in such a situation?  Now that the building blocks of social sustainability are known, does any democratic nation have the democratic discipline to “bite the bullet” and accept the social adjustments that will be necessary to move a whole society toward social stability, peace and sustainability?  The reality of life, whether as an individual or a society of over 300 million people, is often defined by only a few options that are tightly prescribed. 

If a democratic nation were to be confronted by the likely possibility that it would fall into social disintegration due to the collapse of any one or all three pillars, would it have the democratic self-discipline to make the **conscious choice between “staying the course” or making the also difficult choice to move toward social sustainability?  Such an existential decision as that has not confronted any nation since Winston Churchill led his nation to choose possible defeat and annihilation or accept defeat and become another nation under Nazi control.  (**The operative words are “conscious choice.”)

When that time comes¹,   it will be highly important those very few individuals, that 1% in every community, have the presence of mind to implement alternative, sustainable designs to reinvent their communities.  That or stay the course.  The secondary question becomes, “Will the public, as individuals, be invited to provide their preference?”

   ¹  Sustainable Population Levels Using Footprint Data  Dell Ericson © 2000.
http://www.mnforsustain.org/erickson_d_determining_sustainable_populatio...

   ¹ Meadows, Donnela, Jørgen Randers, Dennis Meadows  2004.    Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update., Chelsea Green Publishing Company and Earthscan.

   ¹ Strauss, William and Neil Howe, The Fourth Turning, 1997.