OK, that was a rational statement so I will play along a bit more..... "Alex, I will take 'What is at the root of all things' for one- million dollars..... squared.".
You may well have valid points but again, there are far simpler, base reasons for things and they are never that complex. Why does GM make cars? Well, we could go on about their capital investments in manufacturing lines, or the fact that they really, really like to make cars, or that their parents and grandparents worked for GM and made cars and so forth. But the real reason is because it is profitable. Everything follows that, and it applies to all businesses.
Your point, and I believe Gary's was the same a couple of posts ago about people being fundamentally 'evil', 'improperly socialized' (like bad Doberman dogs
, the breakdown of social values, etc., etc. is not the root problem causing the problems we have, especially in some areas of the country. The problem is that the activities they do are profitable, and they then spend a substantial amount of those profits re- investing in their infrastructure, just like GM, except it is in illicit firearms and so forth to maintain their business, again just like GM. Cut off the supply of money and all you would have is bad people (really, bad people for whatever social, economic or any / all other reasons) without any ability to cause widespread harm. Sure they can rob / hurt / kill a few people but they could not build any type of hierarchical structure to cause a LOT of harm to a LOT of people and area. But once fueled with enough money, they can, and do, build that infrastructure (we call them gangs but that is really irrelevant) and they do cause significant damage. And in turn, the rest of society has to respond to this 'living large' bad behavior and spend considerable resources trying to stop it.
History is full of excellent examples if a person can just get past the words: substitute 'gangs' for 'nations' and read up on the Opium Wars: a fascinating example of bad behavior on a national level (two nations actually), resulting in three separate wars, all over an illicit substance (opium) that was being used to stave off national bankruptcy over tea. Seriously, tea.
When a nation- state invades or attacks another nation- state, it is really nothing more than armed robbery and extortion writ large. If there was not a perceived profit in it, no one would do it, and that works all the way to an international level. Cut off the funding and it dries up and blows away.
I never suggested bad behavior was the result of any action by a large group of people and I am not suggesting it now. But what I am saying is that the magnitude of some specific social problems in the US such as truly excessive violence in, for example, specific parts of Chicago (and many other cities) is only a big problem because it is very well funded. Cut off that money and the problem falls down to a manageable level again.
So I will state what I believe is the root cause of our urban violence one more time: it is middle- class Americans purchasing illicit drugs that is funding all of the organized, large scale violence, every single facet of it. Cut off the funding and it will wither on the proverbial vine. Another facet of this overall situation is that removing some or even most of the major 'players' or even damage an entire organization badly and another will simply spring up to fill that same demand and grab those same profits. Again, history has shown us this time and time again; kill Pablo Escobar and disable the Medellin cartel and the Cali cartel steps right in with cocaine trafficking into the US every single step along the way. The only constant is that demand and the potential profits.
And none of this is limited to drugs; the organized violence in the Mideast is fueled by petroleum, African warlords are fueled by 'blood' diamonds and on and on.
Most of us look at the problem(s) on far too small a scale. Start with the big picture and work down from there.
Brian
Nah, I am still stuck on other subject 
I don't think it is drug users or suppliers or gangs. People will always want drugs, so they will always be supplied. Gangs are a symptom of the underlying problem. Take drugs out of the picture and they would just shift to gambling or theft, or robbery or extortion, or whatever.
I believe the fundamental problem is the lack of properly raising children. It seems most everything boils down to that. It doesn't matter all that much how much money, where you live, what schools you go to, the color of your skin, it is about having loving, supportive parents who actually participate in the upbringing and imparting moral values to their children while acting as positive role models. Sure, other factors can interfere with the ABILITY to do that, but the total destruction of the "family" (baby momma, baby daddy, welfare bonues) puts kids at such a disadvantage they grow up desperately wanting love, attention, and to "belong" and seek out gangs which provide that. Without any moral compass, they do whatever they want, like animals would- live by instinct. That leads to dropping out of school, crime, that leads to being hurt/killed/arrested, that leads to felonies, that leads to not being able to vote or get a job even if wanted, that leads to further crime and anger.... oh and somewhere in there- having token children; someone to "loooooooove" them and make them feel important and grown-up while getting sympathy and money too, and the cycle is completed.
