Townhall
5 Horrific Examples of Cultural Decay in America
John Hawkins
Jan 25, 2014

Human beings are marvelously adaptive creatures, but that can sometimes work again us. That's because we tend to be so focused on adjusting to our present circumstances that we often forget to ask the bigger questions. How did we get to where we are now? Would we be in a stronger position today if we had made some better decisions upstream? What lessons from the past can we use in the future? This is the case for individuals, but it's even more applicable to nations.

Many people tend to assume that all societal changes are for the better. Certainly, we should all be grateful that the Democrat Party finally joined the Republicans in opposing slavery, segregation and Jim Crow laws. It's also wonderful that the Democrats at long last agreed with Republicans that women should have the right to vote. It's also great that both parties worked to help Americans become more educated, end child labor and make our society more affluent.

That being said, while it's fine to celebrate all the progress we've made as a nation, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that we're also inferior to previous generations of Americans in some crucial areas. Only by recognizing where we've fallen short can we take steps to try to get back what we've lost as a people -- and as you're about to see, culturally, we've lost a great deal.

1) "To get a sense of how different attitudes were in the 1960s, perhaps this will do it. These never-married women were asked, “In your opinion, do you think it is all right for a woman to have sexual relations before marriage with a man she knows she is going to marry?” …Eighty-six percent said no."

To get an idea of how much things have changed since the early sixties, my friend Dawn Eden wrote a book on chastity and it was considered to be so unusual that she was booked for numerous "Can you believe there are people who still do this?" TV interviews. Would society be better off if more people were chaste before marriage? Unquestionably, but again, how do you put that rabbit back in the hat without a religious reawakening in our country?

2) "Today, about two-thirds of U.S. households with kids are led by a married couple, down from more than nine in 10 in 1960."

Studies also consistently show not just that children turn out better in two parent families, but that people who are married are happier than those that are single. Because of a soaring divorce rate, high profile break-ups and gay marriage, we've stopped treating holy matrimony with the reverence it deserves in our country. However, marriage really is the bedrock of our society and as it has turned to pumice, we've paid a terrible cost.

3) "In the decade after 9/11, China (Which America still thinks of as a cheap assembly plant for your local Krappimart) built the Three Gorges Dam, the largest electricity-generating plant in the world. Dubai, a mere sub-jurisdiction of the United Arab Emirates, put up the world’s tallest building and built a Busby Berkeley geometric kaleidoscope of offshore artificial islands. Brazil, an emerging economic power, began diverting the Sao Francisco River to create some 400 miles of canals to irrigate its parched northeast. But the hyperpower can’t put up a building (WTC)."

America put a man on the moon in less than a decade; yet we can't put a man on the moon today...

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