America’s Suicide
As I write this, the country is reeling from yet another mass murder. This time, in an historic church. All over the news and in social media, we are struggling to try to understand how this sort of terrible violence could happen here, yet again.
Meanwhile, author Michael H. Davison provides an uncomfortable answer: He argues that we are murdering industrial America, self-reliant America, entrepreneurial America, confident America, proud America.
In its place, he argues, we are erecting a welfare state, a nanny state, a parental state, a nation of dependent adults.
I say, no matter what you call it, the fact is we Americans ought to be embarrassed. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We stumble along, bitterly divided, losing our position as a world leader.
The salient question, Davison argues, is why? And within the book, he focuses on two overarching themes:
- One, the world, with emphasis on the United States, is in a potential deadly moral crisis as harmful principles and practices displace traditional ones among which many bring equal harm. Two,
- Two, the political solutions that we commonly apply to satisfy our needs must inevitably fail to achieve their purpose simply because our moral dilemma and political problems are not at root political. They cannot be resolved by electing the “right” political party.
This book presents a compelling argument that the tiresome squabbling in Congress will never achieve anything constructive until we adopt a radically different view of ourselves as individuals and begin to move our nation in a much healthier direction.
Perhaps this a job for us Baby Boomers.
