You all have problems

With the election(s) coming soon and the ever present issues of privacy and freedom always being rethought and redefined, I've started to contemplate these things myself. I've always felt that a true societal change cannot come about from changes in the establishment or new laws and restrictions. "A reformed society will not reform men, but reformed men will totally reforge society. Change comes from those living, not their living conditions." I can't remember if I stole that from Thoreau, or it was inspired by something he said, but I think that about sums it up. People seem to be convinced that taking away certain freedoms or choices will make a change, but it is obviously not going to work. Look at the situation with drug use among Americans. Outlawing something does not insure its extinction. Look at the Prohibition when people would just bootleg alcohol to get around the laws against it.
Anyway, back to my main point. I actually started thinking about all of this when reading the foreword to Brave New World. In one section there is a quote from Huxley regarding liberty that I thought fit beautifully with some things that have been happening in our country recently. "But liberty, as we all know, cannot flourish in a country that is permanently on a war footing, or even a near-war footing. Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government." Why did Bush decide to start peeping in on our phone conversations, tapping our lines and checking our mailboxes? Because of the war, the eminent threat of terrorism and the insurance of national security. Why should we worry about such things? Back to the starting point: the need to reform society. If our morality wasn't so screwed up, and not just as a country, but as all of humanity, we wouldn't have such problems.
So then, the grand paradox presents itself finally. How do we change something that does not want to be changed? How do we get people to realize what their selfishness in doing to the world? How do we, on an individual level, deny ourselves each and every day, doing what we know is best for everyone? I think we all know the answer.