Fire the best; keep the rest.
The example of the hypothetical police force makes it clear that a sincere and honest citizen is quickly stigmatised and alienated in a declining civilisation.
The Scum Rises to the Top
And the example of the actual Toastmaster's Club demonstrates only the self-seeking citizen would, or could, aspire to high rank in such circumstances. To sacrifice duty and truth to gain short-term advantage requires a venal mentality, but this is the parasitic nature of executives demanded by the majority in a failing community.
Qualification for Success
The essential quality for success in the community, circa 2000 A.D., is incompetence, supported by delusion, aided by conceit and inspired by selfishness. A typical example of this attitude was demonstrated by the executives who made the decision to launch the space shuttle Challenger, against the advice of their engineers, that subsequently exploded in the sky over Cape Canaveral. When the chief executive was asked for his opinion after the event, he declared he had made the right decision based upon the data he received (Television program "Disaster", broadcast on S.B.S. at 7:30 PM 12th September, 1999). Clearly he believed that executives could accept huge salaries, but reject responsibility. An attitude shared by the founding directors of the Australian communications firm One.Tel. Jodee Rich and Bradley Keeling each paid themselves a bonus of $7.5 million dollars in the fiscal year 2000, even though their firm posted a net loss of $291.1 million and subsequently collapsed.
Executive Selfishness Widespread
The universal extent of executive selfishness was confirmed by the Worldcom share price collapse in 2000. This event, deliberately engineered by the collusion of major American firms, and aided and abetted by the American Congress, transferred billions of dollars from the pockets of many investors into the pockets of a few Chief Executive Officers. In 1999 the people's representatives repealed the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act which prohibited banks from selling securities and so allowed the principal conspirators to do just what the act was meant to prevent. The brokerage firm Salomon Smith Barney, the telecom utility Worldcom and Citigroup (a merged entity of a commercial bank, Citibank, and an insurance firm, Travelers) all conspired to enrich their executives by artificially inflating the value of Worldcom listed stock. An action aided by the bribing of other firms' executives through the control of Initial Public Issue (IPO) of stock. Selected executives would be offered large volumes of stock at the initial listed price, even though the then price was much greater, so allowing huge profits. And despite the obvious fraud, none of the many executives involved protested.
Historical Example
A vivid example of the tendency of the worst people to rise to the top in a declining civilisation was demonstrated by the National Socialist regime in Germany (1933–1945). The inadequate and incompetent character of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen is clearly outlined in The Face of the Third Reich by Joachim C. Fest, with the one exception proving the rule being Albert Speer:
"But he was the exception, the only man in Hitler's entourage who refused to sacrifice either his own will or the guidance of his own reason and character, as the majority did so eagerly. The apologetic nature of the memoirs and autobiographical notes the others wrote at this time set forth the thesis of Hitler's compulsive power and the ostensibly irresistible magic of his will. Speer's example proves that it was rather the weakness and insignificance of the men who made up his entourage that ensured the 'Fuhrer' his unchallenged superiority right to the end."