Manners, Authority, and Respect

I've recently come across this-here thread regarding manners and why a lot of people lack them. This is a generalization of course, but I find it to be more factual in the States. Canada (Canadians in general) is still a bit better off, although the lack of manners is increading. I was thinking about what could cause this. Is this, as one poster from the thread states, a direct confrontation towards PC-ness? Or is this a general "zeitgeist" that allows people to piss each other off? This quote sums up this kind of thinking:

“…[T]he Golden Rule has turned into The Golden Possibility That I May Be Respectful To You If It Doesn't In Any Way Inconvenience Me or Make Me Less of a Beautiful Butterfly.” Another quote sums up another facet of manner-less behaviour: “Well, that just the way I am and you have to deal with it.”

Is there a deeper cause to this? In my opinion, yes, there can be, especially in light of the second quote.

Personally, I believe that a lack of manners is a symptom. I believe that the cause lies within a general lack respect for authority (aka gradual anarchy). To push it further, a general lack of respect for fellow humans, period. Now, I'm not saying that we should not question authority. We should and must do so, especially when human authority is involved (because of human imperfection). What I am saying is that if we don’t respect it in that we acknowledge Authority’s role in our lives, how will we know what to do when we don’t have stuff figured out? Manners tie into this because we are lacking respect towards other people, but without some Authority to chain it to, we can do damn-all we want and get away with “well, that’s what I believe, so screw you.”

Discuss?