Eh, internally perceived doomed societies sparked some of the worst world wars we know. The nazis were out of fertilizer, the japanese out of everything and the great game of empires made only autarky seem as a viable option.

Thus began the great butcheries between the upstarts and latecomers, and the established players that was WW1 and WW2. Three cheers for the providers of fertilizers, untaxed international trade and the atomic bomb, keeping the peace.

They do look awfully pale and thin on those old photos for a reason. So to not struggle against a caving in roof, is the attempt to return to the old state of the world, which was horrible.

This is not a viable philosophic position for somebody wielding any power to affect change.