The Moral Decay of a Nation

My overview is my own definition of moral decay - "The slowly, creeping and incessant slide toward complete mediocrity by way of moral relativism, historical revisionism and politically correct fear of offending anyone, anywhere at anytime." It's ugly, unnecessary and preventable, but we must acknowledge its presence first.

For me the quintessential example of moral decay is John Stuart Mill's quotes "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse." Does that sound like anything we are currently experiencing in this nation about now? I believe this quote applies to the nation state and is an offshoot of the more individual admonition "The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "

Based on my quotes one might absentmindedly conclude I am talking about war. I am not. I am instead using the overall tones to describe feelings, both individual and national, that address the moral decay of a nation as a whole and the moral decay of individuals that lead to a nation in decline. We've forgotten what made us great.

We've slipped into the ugly of infighting and not just politics as usual but real and true class warfare. We find our star dimming in the world, and instead of our leaders advocating for a return to greatness we have leaders going all over the world nodding in agreement that America is to blame. For what, might you ask? For everything, of course!

Now we have a nation of fools that have "nothing for which he is willing to fight." What does that mean? To me it represents people with no conviction, no loyalty and no vision beyond their own myopia. I have long feared we've moved from a unified nation of slightly different political vision to one of rapidly widening gulfs of us versus them. It's as if our countrymen with whom we disagree are no longer our compatriots but our mortal enemies. I know when I listen to my opposition chatter, the words they use indicate they don't too awful much like me and mine.

We have become a nation awash in suspicion, distrust and outright accusation. The opposition's rhetoric implies they have more in common with peoples of other nations than with their own countrymen. That would seem to me to be a recipe for national failure. It erodes any sense of unity and shared experience that bond nations and their citizens together.

I am of the belief much of this is intentional on the part of some Americans. Divide and conquer is in play, and not so much from any non-American entity, although there is surely some of that, but the real danger comes from our fellows who seemingly so dislike many of us and what we believe. In my mind we are as polarized as we were before he Civil War. The level of distrust and vehemence is over the top.

Ben Franklin had it right when he said "we'd better hang together or we will all surely hang separately." One must ask "Is that the intention of some of our fellows?" To so divide us so that national unity becomes a thing of the past, where faction is the guiding hand in all our domestic and international dealings.

Look at the news. Nearly every issue breaks down along partisan lines. What to do about Egypt? Left partisans say "X" and right partisans say "Y." Bailouts, unemployment, recession, foreign policy, deficits, national debt, budget cutting...all of it has a partisan element to any solution.

In truth I can't help but blame the other guys for this. I know that sounds as if I too am following the partisan position, but where does the evidence lead? A careful review of the last ten years or so reveals a clear partisan demarcation to nearly every issue, and there are two distinct camps - the traditional camp of conservatism and the belief that while it ain't perfect, it's still better than any other option devised by Man.

Then there is the other camp...those who find nearly every effort of this nation to be one worthy of denigration, distrust and severely in need of some amorphous change that endeavors to take us from the uniquely traditional American positions to positions that mirror those of the social democracies of the world. As I wrote yesterday, how is becoming a mirror image of Europe maintain American Exceptionalism and the things that made this country great? We are unique. We are the only ones like us. Other nations are pale and hollow reflections of the United States.

Clearly in my opinion the efforts of some to divide us are intentional. Some people desire us to be just like everyone else on Earth. I truly fail to see how imitation of second rate and failing systems that remove so much of the legendary "American individual liberty" we are imbued with is a good thing. It seems to me a road to nowhere, awash in obscurity, misery, sameness and a resulting destruction of all that made America great.

I am reminded of the close of the 1980 movie "Excalibur." Arthur's Knights searching for the Holy Grail only to discover the Grail is not a thing, but a feeling; a sense of purpose and duty; a belief in one's own worthy efforts at doing the right and proper thing. We needn't go on walkabout to find the Grail. It resides in each of us but we must remember what it is and reach deep within us to retrieve it. We each hold the answer within us, and our strength is in our unity and nowhere else. It's not magic.

Stand up! Stand up! We can only lose if we quit. Stand up NOW!