Why is the USA Screwed -- Maybe Forever?
Merry Christmas, and for you all who prefer "Happy Holidays," okay. Holidays or not, we're screwed. Here's the anatomy of the perfect storm that has taken us down...
There is a basic human moral code. Cross-cultural taboos are witness to the fact that the human race has a sense of right and wrong. Religious people codified this in commandments, teachings, laws and regulations; even threats of eternal damnation. Secular people are no less rigid. They just come up with utilitarian reasons for why bad behavior is punished. But here's the fact: like it or not anarchy never catches on. It's a matter of the survival of the tribe. Call it God's way or the truth of what we became in our evolutionary ancestral home; it all comes out the same: we need rules.
- What has led to the massive levels of fraud on Wall Street, as well as the technically illegal kind of actual fraud, wherein one prankster walked off with $130 million and another with $50 billion?
- What has led to America blithely undertaking a wrong war in Iraq, for bogus reasons having elected a bogus president?
- Why are educational values sliding?
- Why are divorce rates amongst even so-called born-again Christians, as high as amongst so-called atheists?
- Why are the majority of African-American children being raised by single parents?
- Why are the mostly white, over-educated white collar jerks who ran our economy into the mud taking bonuses?
- Why are white rural kids killing themselves with methamphetamine addiction?
- Why have governmental environmental officials become so corrupt that they are little more than shills for oil companies, car companies and mining companies? (Easy answer -- they're Republicans!)
- Why in the midst of global warming are there still jerks out there driving Hummers and SUVs because they think they can "afford it"?
- Why did it become "okay" to torture prisoners?
- Why have the banks betrayed us?
- Why are there idiots collecting assault weapons?
- Why are we a nation of overweight porkers, incapable of losing weight who may well have shorter life spans than our parents (declines in smoking aside)?
- Why can't we save money but have run up personal and national debt to the point that our currency is plunging in real value worldwide?
- Why are we putting children on prescription drugs for disciplinary and/or behavioral problems?
- Why can't we keep our credit cards in our wallets and our cocks in our pants?
The answer is: the worst of the progressive movement and the worst of the conservative, and especially evangelical/born-again movement, converged into a weird symbiosis wherein even though they represent polar opposite extremes in our culture they have in fact created a perfect environment for our perfect storm of self-destruction.
Both the left and right have believed their own bullshit and taken their private "religious" theologies as gospel.
The left tried to de-link personal moral sexual and family-related behavior, for instance staying married for the sake of raising stable families, not screwing around, just because you wanted to... from what they considered to be public policy issues. They forgot that when the general atmosphere of a culture slides to license in the personal realm something snaps in the public realm.
On the right, and especially in the evangelical/fundamentalist community, people de-linked the biblical call to love your neighbor as yourself from public responsibility. In other words, government programs that require higher taxation, regulation and benefits packages (we loosely call welfare) were de-linked from private theology wherein the gospel calls for the care of the poor, the earth and the other. Greed was sanctified.
On the left, the mantra -- post-sixties -- became go to bed with anyone, follow your pleasure and don't put up with any hassles when it comes to, for instance, being faithful to your wife or husband and/or sticking a tough marriage out for the sake of your children.
On the right, the mantra -- post-Reagan -- became, the market is supreme, freedom equals consumerism.
On the left, the cry went up, it's my body I'll do what I want!
On the right, the the cry went up, this is my stuff I'll do what I want!
When personal responsibility and private taboos crumble on the one hand, and when public responsibility and taboos crumble on the other hand, the mix becomes toxic. Everyone is into what works for "me" but not what works for "us."
President-elect Obama is going to have to try and reverse this trend by calling out both the progressive and conservative elements of our society to get back to first principles and a willingness to sacrifice. That means that we may be entering an era where taboos both personal and public become fashionable again. I hope so.
We've gone to the last stop on a road paved with the mantra that no one is allowed to judge anyone else's behavior. The result is a culture that drives whatever vehicles suits it and global warming be damned. The result is a culture in which divorce is easy and common and all the definitive studies which prove unequivocally that the children of divorce, abandonment and instability bear lifelong scars, that in turn directly affect their ability to function in society, be damned (not to mention the economic problems of divorced families, particularly women, those who raise the children.)
(Note: How ironic that the right wing of the "Christian" community is taking a "stand" against gay marriage when gay marriage hurts no one and shows a salutary commitment to stability and the future, and when all studies show that the real marriage meltdown, in terms of actual harm to society that is measurable, is our tolerance of "no-fault" heterosexual divorce and its effect on kids and the economy.)
If the Obama presidency is to succeed, it's going to have to go far beyond policy and laws. President-elect Obama is going to have to become an evangelist.
The new president is going to have to call religious people back to a consistent lifestyle based on what they say they believe. No more raping the earth by "evangelicals" and stomping on social justice programs in the name of market oriented "freedom." No more bashing gay people in the name of Jesus. No more hate for immigrants.
And to secular "progressive" America: no more lying to ourselves. Irresponsible men who father children, irresponsible women who walk away from families, cynical moral anarchists hurt the whole of our society. Just ask a teacher (my son teaches high school) if the children of solid two parent-caring families do better than the children of single or divorced parents or single moms.
The real problem is that we've all been lying to ourselves and pretending that the 10,000 years of human history teaches us nothing. We've been pretending that somehow our society is exempt from everything human beings have learned about the need for order, structure and moral taboos.
The criminology idea of the "broken window" (small crimes create a climate for big ones) applies to our lax moral decisions; from winking at vast amounts paid the executive thieves running the hedge fund companies and banks, to winking at the idiots in the entertainment industry and cultural establishment who have sold a generation on the idea that following your cock is always a fine idea, to winking at the fact that people who can't stop eating, won't save money, run up debts and run out on their spouses are earth and culture-destroying menaces. These are not "private" choices. They are what ruin schools, make health care unaffordable , destroy the economy and create kids who barely can function. We all pay. And we're all guilty as hell, if of nothing else, of gross complicity by our silence.
From Wall Street to the listless youths failing in our schools, to the churning insane casino industry, to the tens of thousands of marinas filled with all those useless stupid pleasure craft, to our highways clogged with vehicles with one passenger, to our broken railroads, to every faithless man and woman who hasn't put their children first, we have, taken together, achieved the unthinkable: we've put at risk the most powerful country on earth and perhaps destroyed our future.
I hope that President-elect Obama can call us back to our senses, coerce us into better behavior, preach, cajole, convince and -- if need be -- force us to look at what we've done to ourselves. It's time to admit our wrongs, repent and convert to new ways.
Here is Obama's message shorthand: stop screwing around!
Or he could put it this way...
There is no free lunch be it in the classroom, the bedroom or the boardroom. Grown ups know this. So do grown up civilizations. Grow up!
Frank Schaeffer is the author of Crazy For God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back (Now in Paperback).
Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer
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Shame on you, Frank Schaeffer! I am surprised a nice Christian boy like you would use the bad, bad word "cock!" I will pray for your soul!
As an ex-teacher, I couldn't agree more. Children with two parents perform much better and generally act more decently than those from single-parent families or divorce. Not politically correct, but painfully obvious to any teacher.
But saying that among certain members of the left causes outrage--how DARE you say that single mothers need a husband? They do just as good a job!
The truth is that they can't--male or female single parents. Money-wise, time-wise and often, yes, morals wise (just take a look at the "progressive" schools that let 15 year old mothers (and their absentee fathers) attend school among other children. How DARE you stigmatize these children by removing them and showing it is wrong to have sex at 13 without thought of consequence!
But there are consequences--to all of us. Those on the left fail to realize that the wing nut left belief system is just as poisonous as the wing nut right belief system.
As Clint Eastwood said, go far enough to the left and you meet the same nuts coming around from the right. And as society continues to fall apart, we point self-righteous fingers. But as my students used to say, when you point a finger, there are three fingers pointing back at you.
Schaffer, you are a voice in the wilderness. But some of us hear you loud and clear.
@mivogo,
As a teacher you should know that teenagers are walking hormone factories, they don't think like adults, and that they are constantly bombarded with sexuality from the media. That's a lot for a kid to handle. But you really believe that the best way to deal with this is stigmatize 13 or 15 year-old girls (not boys, mind you, just the girls) and kick them out of school so they have no way to support their child? Lovely.
Yes, I do believe that these 13 to 15 year old girls--AND BOYS--should be "stigmatized",. if by that you mean they should be educated, cared for and taught about personal responsibility and how to support their premature families, in separate schools. I AM thinking about the children--the majority of children in that classroom who are getting the lesson that it is perfectly fine to get pregnant at 13 or 14, that there is NO CONSEQUENCE, that if it happens to them, they can just return to school like nothing happened, like it's a normal occurance.
When I taught, it was almost impossible to remove delinquents from the classroom because of your reasoning--"we shouldn't stigmatize them." The other kids were psychologically (and sometimes physically) affected by this, but the bleeding hearts didn't care. Hopefullee, this is NOT "caring about kids." It is wrong-minded, and it hurts everyone involved.
I think religion has been used in some way to justify every one of those things on your list, Frank....
Yeah....I do think it has justified all those things. My grandather picked up a belt buckle in WW I that said 'God is on our side' in German.
However, I don't thing the cause of WW I was about religion. It was about greed of the upper classes for power and empire. Religion was really a tool to incite the populace to intolerance and violence.
Your contention is like saying 'skin color is evil' because racism is used to control people and foster intolerance and bigotry.
Well said. The next truly great movies, novels, plays--any medium you can imagine--will dramatize the complexities of the deep moral crisis we're all in the middle of right now.
"Moral" or "ethical"? There is a difference.
Maybe the reason nearly everything you listed has gone to hell is corruption and money madness. Once the right, with the help of feckless Democrats, had torn the social network to ribbons, everybody all over America knew they were on their own, and everybody wanted to be wealthy so they could take care of themselves, and to hell with everybody else, who were, by definition, losers. Those who could get, got. And folks would rather not have to work to get money if there was another way. The social contract presently is not worth the paper it isn't written on.
And as for the left making everybody act buck-wild corporally, well, the teenage pregnancy rate was higher in the 1950's than now. And if divorce among evangelicals is as high as it is among atheists, how can that be the left's legacy? The evangelicals have been listening only to themselves and keep their hands over their ears and hum hymns loudly when coming into contact with godless types.
Till very lately, The story of politics since the late 70's has been the story of the re-entrenchment of the white man against the encroachment of minorities. White men forced themselves even farther into their seats of power when challenged, wherein they have worked their magic in politics, and in business. They insisted on keeping a tight grip on the reins of power, but they have driven the nation into the ditch, unworthy to lead, unwilling to share.
The historical precedent here is apt. The true comparison is the Roman Empire. We're more like them than people realize. I wrote about it in my blog post titled "Distractions" back before the 2004 election touching on many on the same themes that Frank shares with us here. Indeed, it is and has been my belief that this cultural warfare whether waged from the left or from the right is what distracts us from being a great nation like we used to be.
Are we an empire in decline? All the signs certainly point that way, and more and more commentators are starting to believe in what has been proposed in books and articles for some years now. I wonder if even with Obama's leadership this course we're one can be corrected. In other words, I am not as optimistic as Mr. Schaeffer appears to be.
It's always good to try and see historical themes that run through historical events.
Many times the confluence of different factors are necessary for decline to take place.
For example.....the themes of human violence, the individual need to procreate, the individual need to survive added to the magnitude of human interference and dependence results in disaster for that society.
You can see that in the Roman Empire (far flung provinces and aqueducts), the German Empire (a far flung war in Russia and also in Europe), the Mayan Empire (drought and poor agriculture), the people's in the NA continent (drought and famine) and many, many others. Maybe us?.....you're right about the signs.
It doesn't really have alot to do with trying to be a good, moral person....however that is defind.
Read the bood "Collapse" .....it is very good.
Yes, "Collapse" is great!
Part 2
And what passes for so called music and art. I caused my young teenagers embarrassment at the checkout when I refused to pay for CD's that came with a WARNING! How did all these "songs" and videos get produced when the language and the so called dancing in them came with warnings and adult ratings? Who were they marketing to? Who was their target audience? if not these same teenagers who needed the adult's funds and permission to "enjoy" their product. All of us parents should have refused to buy their so called products and we should have all complained to all the TV stations that carried videos with lewd dancing. But we were afraid to come across as too puritan, we didn't want on infringe on anyone's artistic freedoms. What was the message to our youth? that you can be as nasty as you wanna be and you'll make a lot of money and get to wear a lot of bling? on your teeth even? And don't even get me started on the violence in video games. We allow them to come into our home and then we wonder about all the violence in our cities. Sometimes "artistic" freedom comes with a price, not only in currency but in our morality.
We? What we? I didn't send any message to your kids. What message did YOU send to them about this? Did you talk to them about our social fascination with sexuality, about what is and what is not appropriate? Did you talk to them about why pop artists' sales are inversely proportional to the amount of clothing they wear in their videos? When it is ok to look at a naked man or woman's body, and when it is not? Did you talk to them about when it is ok to explore sexual excitement as a valid emotion and what constitutes crossing the line?
In what world is "shield our citizenry from complex issues" a proper and acceptable substitute for "educate our citizenry on complex issues?"
The "message" to our youth SHOULD HAVE been whatever message you imparted on your youths. Isn't that the parents' place?
You know......all kids get 'embarrassed' by their parents. My grandparents did, my parents did, I did, and my kids did. But that's not the point. That is a distraction.
You should have asked my kids when they were teens.....their mom was vigilant and tried to teach them kindness and tolerance for all beliefs. I didn't permit them to shirk their responsbilities or to be bullies or to call names.
Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own kids and teaching their kids. I don't think that is really debated by progressives, liberals or the right.
I think the problems boil down to the world-view of economics and power, not our idea of puritanism. Everything else is just piffle.
The historical precedent here is apt. The true comparison is the Roman Empire. We're more like them than people realize. I wrote about it in my blog post titled "Distractions" back before the 2004 election touching on many on the same themes that Frank shares with us here. Indeed, it is and has been my belief that this cultural warfare whether waged from the left or from the right is what distracts us from being a great nation like we used to be.
Are we an empire in decline? All the signs certainly point that way, and more and more commentators are starting to believe in what has been proposed in books and articles for some years now. I wonder if even with Obama's leadership this course we're one can be corrected. In other words, I am not as optimistic as Mr. Schaeffer appears to be.
Decadence, pure and simple.
When an actress chooses to pose for the cover of a magazine dressed only in a tie all we can comment on is how good she looks and how her ex-husband must be drooling. How about the message it sends to our young daughters? This was not a magazine that normally comes in a brown paper wrapper. The pictures were not only within the magazine but on the cover for all to see. What is the message? this is my body and I do what I want? Consequences be damned. She is childless but the rest of us aren't. Is that what we want our daughters to aspire to? That when their marriage breaks up they always have the option to pose nude for the public?
And the astronomical wages paid to CEO's. How did we become comfortable as a society to accept that the one running the store makes 400 times more than the one actually making the store work? How is that justified? How did so many of us come to believe that what was good for those at the top would be good for the rest of us as well? How did we become convinced that it was OK to subsidize greed at the very top but not OK to subsidize a young single mother who needs rent money, child care and health care coverage while she gets an education that will make her a full participant of our society?
part 1
"How did we become comfortable as a society to accept that the one running the store makes 400 times more than the one actually making the store work? How is that justified? How did so many of us come to believe that what was good for those at the top would be good for the rest of us as well? How did we become convinced that it was OK to subsidize greed at the very top but not OK to subsidize a young single mother who needs rent money, child care and health care coverage while she gets an education that will make her a full participant of our society?"
Answer: we bought the big lie from the right, that's how.
Peter Turchin's "War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires" is a really interesting read. Evolutionary biology meets history. He focuses on agrarian societies in Europe before industrialization. Empires rise where people band together to fight off a common threat, and decay when the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and conflict replaces cooperation.
The rise of great affluence always brings the seeds of destruction--inter-elite competition, the wealthy lack of desire to lead in the military, large and increasing gaps between the well off and the poor etc. etc.
More egalitarian societies have what it takes for collective action; bifurcated societies do not. Empires rise on their boundaries, but decay from within.
The Neocons know this, but their mistake was to try to unite us by fighting other civilizations, instead of the common threats which will surely engulf us all, energy and climate.
I love this poem and think it is really appropriate to your comments. It is by Robert Frost....he may have changed his mind to become more definite, if he had lived through the last few years.
Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
I agree with your assessment of our current state, but I can't fathom the logic of your conclusion.
Taboos in and of themselves are ridiculous. They foster the idea that society should follow rules without heed to context or understanding of why those rules are in place.
But are rules - or taboos - really all-encompassing? Do they always represent the correct response, in any situation, under any circumstance? No, they don't.
In fact, the destruction of taboos enables society to question the context.
Our problem is that we haven't taken the next step. The sexual revolution let us to understand that sex is not a private shame. Progress! But we stopped short of understanding what sex is - not just physically, but socially, realistically, materially.
The solution is NOT to reinstate rules that discourage us from exploring the nature of our actions in society. The solution is the complete opposite. When we understand our actions in their entirety - and the far-reaching impact of our decisions - we can take responsibility for our actions by our own initiative.
Yes, grow up. But recognize that growing up is not "be more sensitive to other people judging you in their ignorance." Growing up is, "take responsibility for your actions, own your decisions, and face up to their consequences in their entirety." In other words, THINK HARDER about what you're doing, why, what the consequences are, AND THEN decide if you're going to do it or not.
We like to reminisce about the good old days when people were moral and good--mom, and apple pie; American products dominated the world. We thought we had god smiling on us because of our goodness. The Illusion of American exceptionalism was brought about by a confluence of fortune--geography, natural and human resources, etc.
At the peak of the rise of the west, the US manufactured what the world needed, and after WW2 devastated industrial economies, there was little serious competition. Now globalization has brought about "the rise of the rest", which pushed down wages and off-shored industrial jobs. Corporations begat this, taking advantage of slave-labor wages where union organizers get thrown in prison, and environmental regulations are unheard of. Economists call this fair comparative advantage.
For many years now, too many of our best and brightest became, not manufacturing and design engineers, and scientists, but lawyers and investment bankers, while in Asia it's been the other way around.
The greed is good ethos may be imploding, but I think it's wrong to point a finger at sexual "morality" as the origin of our problems. The well off, have always been promiscuous, and had marriages of convenience. The availability of birth-control, automobiles, high wages for women have changed things for working people. We do these things now, not because we've become less moral, but because of our affluence, we simply can.
But then, what do I know…I gotta go…
Somebody said "Things sure ain't what they used to be-- and they never were."
Ahhh, thanks, very good. I was thinking along those lines when I started my first paragraph, but I never got there--dang tangents, 250 word limits, and feeble brain....
So the lack of taboos in our society has been at the root of our decline?
I would say (if you look at history, objectively) that there has always been terrific inequities , societal problems, and the seeds for disaster.
The only difference is one of magnitude....greatly increased now by our technological power. For instance bullets, missiles, and bombs as oppose to spears, arrows, and rocks. Or scrolls and clay tablets as opposed to the internet. Or faith healing as opposed to antibiotics.
The only thing that kept everything in check before was our lack of capacity to destroy our world not our desire and certainly not societal taboos and mores.
Emily Post is still no match for Attila the Hun.
Yessss!
If the US is screwed in the future it'll be because of its 2nd rate education system. A system that puts more emphasis on feel-good political-correctness and culture classes at the expense of math, science, engineering, and future geophysic and energy curriculums.
Particulary the engineering courses and then infrastructure jobs......green energy, rail, waterways, and sustainable agriculture.
Roses, I love watching these football games and notice all the players majors. Like African-American Studies, Urban Studies, Pschology, Recreation, Fitness Management, and oh yeah, Tourism.............Unbelievable. Those majors will get us ready for the next century (LOL)
And as long as our students are NOT learning the basics of money management, economics, real life issues of science and life management (topics NOT on state mandated standardized tests requied by NCLB) the sheep will easier to lead to the slaughter. The dumbing down that has occurred was intentional people!
Who silenced the scientists and the skeptics to war? Who intimidated the protesters and punished the truth sayers?
Those who have been speaking up these last 8 years were condemned as elitist, or know-it-alls and ridiculed for their "pessimism" based in facts. Now, we hear the oft repeated refrain "who could have known?"
Do we know better now?
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