Civilization isn’t.

There is no solution to the problem that in any complex social system, those who cheat and game the system for their own ends always win. They become leaders, because they have no scruples about using others. They may understand the ideals which originally fueled some systems, but only in such a way as to recognize these ideas' utility in winning credulous (and in their view, naive and expendable) followers; "useful idiots" as the Russians call them. Such cheaters look with cynicism and disgust on those whose ideals involve the welfare of others or lack immediate self-interest. I used to believe that the weight of planned bureaucracy and the intricacy of law and precedent would protect the original meaning, purpose and function of complex social systems, but this belief is becoming increasingly threadbare.