Posted on 09/16/2014 5:27:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
People don't like to talk about America's culture for the same reason that a man who just had a heart attack doesn't want to discuss the double bacon cheeseburger he's eating. He knows what he's doing is killing him, but it's easier not to deal with it. Were in the same boat.
* We treat success as an accident or a cheat while defending people who make bad decisions, who won't educate themselves or who won't work.
* We've allowed pornography to become so accessible that it's practically universally viewed, even among teenagers.
* We love victims so much that people actually fake hate crimes to claim victim status.
* We celebrate losers and deviants by giving them their own reality shows. Meanwhile, Hollywood regularly portrays businessmen, Christians and soldiers as the worst people on earth.
* More children have died because of Roe v. Wade than were killed during the Holocaust.
* Marriage is falling apart and were encouraging that by pushing gay marriage.
* Our universities reward Communists, terrorists and blatant anti-American sentiment with professorships. Those are the last people who should be teaching impressionable young Americans.
* There's a whole grievance industry full of people who make a living claiming to be "offended" by things.
* Religion and morality are denigrated while nihilism and immorality are considered cool.
* Legalism has superseded morality and what's "right" and "wrong" has become secondary to what's "legal" and "illegal."
* We're the greatest, most powerful, most prosperous and most virtuous nation that has ever existed and despite all of that, we obsess over our nations faults instead of our achievements.
* Americans across the spectrum are being encouraged to separate themselves off from the larger culture and nurse grievances that barely would have been given a thought a few decades ago.
Yet, we're told that we shouldn't worry about any of these things because people have always worried about our culture and things have turned out just fine. Even if that's so, have you ever considered the possibility that worrying about the culture and taking steps to keep it from getting out of hand is exactly what once kept it from going to the dogs?
Yes, there was a time when people worried about Elvis provocatively shaking his hips on stage and it's easy to laugh at that, but wouldn't we be better off if that was one of the biggest moral problems we faced as a society today? We don't like to admit the ugly truth; were more educated and much less racist than we used to be as a society, but we are also morally inferior to Americans from fifty years ago in almost every other way that matters.
Many people believe Rome fell because of a decline in morals while the Soviet Union disintegrated because they spent so much money trying to keep up with Reagan that they went broke. Well, we have both problems going on simultaneously. Meanwhile, preppers have become legion. Billions of dollars are being held back from the economy because people are saving up in case there's an economic collapse. Businesses are sitting on mountains of cash and looking to move their headquarters overseas. Many educated, informed people believe America is headed towards bankruptcy or runaway inflation not in fifty years, but within the next decade or two. If you're looking for signs that this country is in deep trouble, there are red flags galore waving in your face.
But this isn't just an economic problem, a spending problem or a leadership problem -- although those are all concerns. It's a cultural problem with our morals and what we value as a society on the most fundamental levels.
* In practice, our society focuses almost exclusively on the short term without thinking about the long-term consequences of our actions.
* We have a higher moral standard for the NFL than we do for our own leaders in Washington.
* We have a political party dedicated to the idea taking things from people who've worked for it and giving it to people who haven't.
* We make little effort to assimilate immigrants into our society and instead, encourage them to embrace the culture they fled for the United States.
* We've stopped acting as if we have to pay back the money we borrow.
* We treat the rule of law as optional, depending on who's impacted by it.
* We believe our children can grow up in a moral sewer and still turn out to be fine, upstanding citizens regardless.
We've become so divided, so antagonistic, so morally separated that for the first time in over a century there are people asking hard questions how much we really have in common with other Americans. If you're comparing let's say a conservative from South Carolina to a liberal from California, the honest answer is "not much that matters." Perhaps not even enough to hold a country together over the long haul if one group or the other ever became politically dominant.
There's only one way to change that and it's to address the real sickness at the heart of American culture. That sickness is our newfound reluctance to address the moral health of our society. Over the long haul, we can't thrive and we may not even be able to survive as a divided, degenerate society full of people who reward failure, resent success and live for the moment. Morality matters and if we forget that, our nation is doomed to descend into decadence, decay and perhaps one day, even dissolution.
bump
With this country being run by the biggest generation of navel-gazers ever given birth, why am I not surprised?
There have been more children murdered because of Roe v Wade than all the people killed and murdered in World War II.
We need more articles like this IMO. It’s what Hannity, Rush, Mark Levin and Sarah Palin should be talking about but only give occasional lip service to. There’s a big reset button that’s about to be pushed soon. When that happens there is going to be unbelievable pain and suffering across this nation - if not the world. “God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Gal. 6:7
By all means, let's discuss the violence of Ray Rice ad nauseum, and ignore what the "cool" kids like Lois Lerner have done.
Quite simply, the left / progressives / libs (whatever you want to call them) wage war on our culture twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred-and-sixty-five days a year, with the intention of destroying it. What other conclusion could one reach after observing their actions?
Occasionally I run into creepy corners of dissolute behavior; for example shadowy people on the internet who take pleasure in perverse speech related to every bodily orifice, both animal and human. It is a satanic demeanor. But it does not surface in my day to day encounters with my neighbors. It’s just under the surface. It is not just a cultural problem. It pertains to all human flesh since the fall. The Law of God, thanks be to Him, serves as a significant curb on aberrant behavior. Within the authority I have received as a parent, I rebuke wrongdoing.
Since good government is derived from parental authority, it too should rebuke wrongdoing and, if necessary punish it. But to point out wrongdoing on the part of others requires discipline in its own right. One must understand that much wrong happens on account of weakness rather than intentional desire to commit wrong. It is the proponents, defenders, and advertisers of wrong doing who deserve a smack down both verbally and again, if necessary, physically.
The no fear of God nor of His moral principles is a dangerous place to be. America has had favor from above but if the Almighty withdraws it what a tragedy it will be. If there is a rapture and believers are taken out of America then look out for what it will experience in wrath.
The world I think but maybe it will be particularly bad for us. It's human nature I think... I hate to be a fatalist, but maybe it's all part of our race (homo sapiens I mean) growing up.
Well, America isn’t called the Great Satan for no reason.
What is the answer? Morality enforced by government and laws? We’re kind of shocked when we see the Sharia enforcers. Prohibition proved government intervention caused more problems than it solved.
Genuinely curious. When one sees this massive tool (government) the temptation is always there to back seat drive and say “if they would just let me use it, I could fix the problems that the current operators are making by doing it wrong.”
Some mighty fine points in this article by John Hawkins. Only wish America would wake up and see what is going on before it's too late.
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In a word, yes.
It's a misnomer to claim that "you can't legislate morality". Just as Uhbama and the liberals are legislating immorality, we can also legislate and uphold laws which protect our borders, protect our unborn, repeal laws that actively harm our military (homos in the barracks), and on and on. You know - Moral Laws.
Libertarians like to sneer; "You're just trying to replace a progressive regime with a Christian Socialist Nanny State with do-gooders like Huckabee and both ideals are dangerous to a free society".
No, really. They actually believe that.
The fact is - America thrived and prospered for about 200 years with leaders who had a clear moral vision. Now, we are under a "Great Society" which ushered in the end times of America.
How do you convince the population to grant this power to the government?
Do you deceive them and don’t let them in on your plans until you gain power? Or do you seize control to implement this agenda by force?
“The fact is - America thrived and prospered for about 200 years with leaders who had a clear moral vision.”
Agreed, but how to you impart clear moral vision into 150 million government grown parasites?
Oh come on now! I told you what needs to be done. Now you want to know how?
lolol.
That is the question for the ages.
The truth is - while it does take leaders (Like Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz) who have a clear moral visions - the answer to our social problems is far greater than our political failures. America has gone through 3 or 4 Great Awakenings since our inception. And none of them were politically motivated, but they did influence us in a more moral way.
So my guess would be to pray for another Great Awakening and to vote conservatively. For a start.
Nice post...
“We don’t like to admit the ugly truth; were more educated and much less racist than we used to be as a society, but we are also morally inferior to Americans from fifty years ago in almost every other way that matters.”
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This is where I stopped, in my view we are anything BUT,”more educated and much less racist than we used to be as a society”. We are certainly NOT more educated other than knowledge of technology that did not exist in the past. In terms of classical education the average recent graduate of an American university is at best at what used to be a seventh or eighth grade level and in many cases below that. SOME people are less racist but the society as a whole is DISABLED by racism to the point of disfunction. A huge portion of the federal budget is dedicated to preserving and promoting racism, to say otherwise is simply to deny reality. Anyone who cannot see it is simply refusing to see it.
What you refer to are Sumptuary Laws, which at our founding were common in England and her colonies. The power to impose restrictions on consumption and morals were well known. At the Constitutional Convention, sumptuary laws were considered and rejected, as a federal power. So no, no morality imposed by the national government, but rather a civil society that has its own norms and pressures which promote the general welfare and happiness.
<>What is the answer?<>
The answer was to keep the national government in general, and Scotus in particular, out of matters they have no legitimate purpose in, i.e. shaping of the civil society to Leftist ends.
Scotus has stomped on Christianity in schools, declared abortion to be a right, and is now imposing fag marriage on an unwilling nation, all of which serve to destroy the foundations of our republic.
“cool” is and always has been that state of rebellion just this side of what the majority of society would deem “actionably dangerous”.
IE, it’s the “edge” of what the rebellious can get away with.
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