The Choices and Consequences of Our Age
The Choices and Consequences of Our Age
The seminal economic event of the last century —the event that has destabilized the middle class and led to a widening disparity between the fortunate and unfortunate— is this country’s inability to produce and manufacture goods and services that afford its citizens a good job at a good wage. Moreover, the grand experiment of liberal government – that a large and powerful government providing ever-expanding benefits and services would produce a utopian society – has been an abject failure. Government simply doesn’t work, unwilling to balance its budgets and manage its programs, as the once noble profession of politics denigrates into decadence and incivility, where deflecting blame is more important than reflecting character.
Today, few Americans believe in the common interest over their own self-interest, creating a selfish and self-absorbed society; few believe in personal responsibility and accountability, searching for someone to blame for the consequences of their own poor choices. The “rugged individual” that once defined America has abdicated their responsibility to control their own destiny, becoming utterly dependent on an employer for a job, the government for health care and retirement, and the wealthy to pay this nation’s taxes. Whereas success once meant you had the opportunity to “pull up” on the ladder of success, today more want to “pull down” those above them on that ladder.
Insecurity and instability pervade this country’s economic, political and societal institutions as a nation once seen as the beacon of hope, graciousness, and civility degrades into the harbinger of despair, envy, and hostility. Yet success can still be achieved in this country, but only by those who look forward rather than backward, who avoid the disadvantages of the past to take advantage of the future, and who are willing to make it on their own through hard work, thrift, sacrifice, and self-reliance, the defining values that once made this country great.
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