Saying the Pledge of Allegiance was a daily ritual through my twelve years of primary and secondary education. Dare I say that so was a daily prayer, since I was a product of a Catholic education during the 50s and 60s.
My parent were depression era citizens. My dad was in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War 2.
Being American meant something to them, and to me. Yes, times were simpler, and the world was still a vast disconnected group of Nation States separated by great deserts and oceans. Computers were something only government and IBM used. It was still common to have shared telephone lines, and the color choices for your phone were black, black, or, black.
The list is endless as to what has changed in this country since I was born, but the one change that scares me, and should frighten the hell out of all of us is the overwhelming ignorance of what this country is all about.
We are still in a toddler stage as a nation, but we have far eclipsed what any great power has achieved in the history of man. Every nation that has seen its fall from greatness, can attribute that fall to its citizens either claiming their rights to basic human freedoms, letting their freedoms atrophy, letting external influences usurp those freedoms, or letting their governments constraint the extent of those freedoms.
We have excelled by minimizing government involvement in the pursuit of the greatness of the individual.
Our slow decline started in the Great Depression of the 30s when government in its effort to "help" the plight of its citizens instituted a massive power grab of individual freedoms. Social Security, WPA, CCC,
and a plethora of new government programs put a framework into place that set us on a course that has given many Americans an entitlement mentality that has crossed racial, and socioeconomic line,
The Great Society program of the 60s literally destroyed the black family structure by forcing men out of the homes in order for the woman to be able to collect bigger welfare checks. The Vietnam War spawned a resentment for this country that bred a generation of anti Americanists that proliferate so much of our academic, journalistic, and political arenas today.
We still self flagellate over what happened to Native Americans and the slaves over 150 years ago. Terrible chapters in our history absolutely. But what country has ever done more to address and correct its past injustices. We went to war with ourselves, in part, to remove the stain of slavery. The past is a powerful learning tool, but it is not to be dwelled on, only learned from.
Young people today are not taught how this country works, why it was founded, or why they enjoy the freedoms that they have. There is a movement within the power structure of the government today to act on this ignorance by removing basic freedoms through high taxation, over regulation, and more and more layers of lawyers that make even a playground a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Political correctness has made us afraid to laugh at ourselves, to challenge injustices disguised as corrections for past indiscretions. Anything done "for the children" give any cause or politico the right to raid our wallets and trounce on our right to challenge.
Men are emasculated,and certain religions are ok to denigrate, while others are above criticism.
We are bankrupt as a nation and owe our financial soul to countries just waiting to destroy us.
Our military is being slowly turned into a social experiment that will eventually weaken the cohesion so important to the function of a culture of warriors.
We can worry about the next winner of American Idol, or the next episode of survivor, but I fear that one day the people of this country are going to wake up and realize that they were cast adrift in an ocean of "what happened to us" and there will be no land in sight.
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