Civilizations grow by agreements and accomodations and accretions, not by repudiations. The rebels and the revolutionaries are only eddies, they keep the stream from getting stagnant but they get swept down and absorbed, they're a side issue. Quiet desperation is another name for the human condition. If revolutionaries would learn that they can't remodel society by day after tomorrow -- haven't the wisdom to and shouldn't be permitted to -- I'd have more respect for them ... Civilizations grow and change and decline -- they aren't remade.
According to Wallace Stegner in "Angle of Repose," civilizations advance through collective agreements and gradual changes rather than through rebellion and strife. He suggests that revolutionaries serve a purpose by preventing stagnation, but ultimately, they are transient and do not significantly alter the course of history. Rather, they are absorbed into the larger stream of societal progress, which evolves slowly over time.
Stegner emphasizes that the inherent state of human existence...
