Hence the self-destructive loop when moral degradation begins; the people turn to that which will bring greater moral degradation until absolute tyranny. The tyranny typically finds a way to obliterate itself in time, but the damage is done; those who survive pick up the pieces and the cycles starts over again. The longer moral degradation can be avoided, and the more people directly fight the degradation instead of playing into the cycle, the longer a society/government/etc. will be sustained.