All phenomena whether artificial or natural share one ubiquitous aspect which is periodicity. Everything seems to have cyclic elements throughout its life and yet we don't seem to accept that inevitable trait in our institutions.
We establish businesses and churches and governments without the realization that ebb and flow, growth and decay, progress and retardation, etc. are essentially contained in their makeup by nature.
Institutions by their very nature contain the means of their own destruction even as they prosper and grow. Such periodicity is inevitable, yet controllable to a certain extent. But such periodicity must be acknowledged before any control can be applied.
Our society could not function without the establishment of institutions for the well being of the populace. They represent an infrastructure that holds together any society, but their permanence must always remain questionable. Now we are facing times in which many of our institutions appear to be failing. Government seems to be on the brink of collapse by dint of unbridled internal corruption. Our religious organizations are shrinking rapidly in the face of rampant sophism and moral relativism.
Our financial institutions suddenly teeter on the brink of collapse under the mounting weight of government intrusion. And so it seems to be going. while most of us cower in the shadows of our fears, learning to expect the worst while we wait for those in charge to fix everything.

So the question of the day: 'Who is in charge?'
Particularly in terms of the United States President Obama thinks he's in charge, but he's not. Congressperson Pelosi and Senator Reid think they are in charge, but they are not. The citizens of the United States don't think they are in charge, but they are. Such irony is almost laughable.
For well over 100 years we have allowed pretenders to power chip away at our country's foundation. They the Constitution of the UNited States as a legal brief to be interpreted and reinterpreted as any other piece of legislation. But the Constitution is not so much a statement of laws as it is a statement of PRINCIPLES by which the laws of the land are to be conformed. The current actions of the government are being perpetrated with the excuse that the failing institutions are too big to fail. Yet, it truth they are too big to succeed.
We must reorganize the institutions, not the foundation upon which they stand. Principles are not open to interpretation and anyone who pretends to wisdom must see the difference between laws and principles. It is only by differentiating them that we can maintain the source of our heretofore unbridled success as a nation. The best government is that which interferes least with human nature while establishing and maintaining institutions that promote essential social intercourse. THe idea of freedom is embodied in our Constitution, yet we have allowed our representatives to redefine freedom not in the clear and simple terms of the Constitution, but in the convoluted legalism that constitutes license.
The essence of true freedom is responsibility. It is necessary that parents teach their children that relationship. To be free means to be personally empowered. One can only be personally empowered when he claims responsibility for his life and the choices he makes. One is enslaved to the extent that he allows others to decide how he shall live.