In 1941 America was drawn into the greatest war in human history. At the onset of that war America was the greatest industrial power in the world. We could manufacture cars, appliances, and whole host of goods that improved the lives of Americans and others around the world. We took that manufacturing capability and retooled it to make planes, tanks, ships, guns and the other necessities of war. Our ability to do so saved the world from the tyranny the Nazis and Japanese would have imposed on it. Our industrial might was a sine qua non of our national defense and national security. Today, in 20011, we have shipped most of our manufacturing ability to other countries, mainly to China. The Chinese are today where we were in 1940. Students in our public schools used to be taught shop and other practical skills for an industrial based work force. Today almost no public schools teach shop anymore.
We have done all this because we, as a nation, bought into the notion that our children should all go to college and become doctors and lawyers. We have instilled within us the idea that to work with ones hands is somehow less worthy than wearing a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase to work. We now have a nation where we don’t make anything anymore. Our public school children don’t know how because those skills don’t measure up to using a computer.
If another world war were to start we would be caught with our pants down. We could once take comfort in having two oceans to insulate us from the rest of the world. But the world is no longer so large. Modern technology has made the earth a much smaller place. Modern weapons have now put the entire human race in danger.
On top of all this, modern values, or the lack thereof, have stolen the steel that the American spirit was once made of. The generation that fought World War II went through the Great Depression and went on to save the world. When they returned home they built the greatest country in the history of the world. Today’s young people don’t have the same foundation that generation once did. The young people of our generation don’t share any common values outside of greed and immediate gratification for all their desires. Maybe it’s not their fault but the result is still the same. We simply could not do what the generation that fought World War II did. Those that disagree and say that the young people of every generation seem the same are out of touch with reality.
The problem is that human nature hasn’t changed. Technology is more far reaching and more dangerous today but human hearts still fall prey to the same weaknesses that they were always prey to. If history teaches us anything it teaches us that there will be more war. Rounds one and two of the world wars were just a preamble to the next one. And America is on the decline.
Our nation is on a self-destruct course. Greed is the only value that is common these days. All the traditional values that made us great are under attack. Right and wrong are now seen as culturally relative. We have a federal government run by men who will promise anything to their constituents to get re-elected. Corporations want more profits because their shareholders want more. We all want to pay less for the goods and services we purchase. And we all want more money for less work. We’ve thrown God out of our public places and out of our public discourse. We are in a state of economic upheaval because of our desire for more and more and our unwillingness to practice self sacrifice. We have left a spiritual vacuum in the world, one that the Chinese and others are more than happy to fill.
Our decline is leaving a power vacuum in the world too. One that Europe will be forced to fill. The balance of power in the world is shifting. The Islamic world is on the ascendancy as are the Chinese. There are no other countries that share the values that have made America the greatest nation in the history of the world. We’ve been willing to spill our blood and spend our treasure to free people all over the world from tyranny. No other nation in history has ever done what this one has.
Any student of history can see the signs of our decline. America has been a light to the world but that light has grown dim. We have made some terrible mistakes. I believe our greatest mistake is throwing out the concept of reverence. We hold nothing sacred anymore. Anyone who stands up for the traditional values that built this country is branded as a racist or homophobe or worse. We have lost our way.
Our problems may be too late to correct even if we had the heart to do so. We’re not going down with a bang but with a whimper. We just don’t have the moral certainty that our forefathers did. We don’t make anything anymore. We don’t even try to instill good character in the next generation anymore. I fear that what happens to us will be what we deserve...
