The decline of society

NYC birth rate declines – 88,000 abortions in 2005

88,000 abortions in one year in one city. Unbelievable. New York is now flirting with a negative birth rate, evidence of a decaying city and a decaying country. Europe is facing a similar situation. What happens to a country, especially a country with Social Security, when more people are dying than are being born?

As wonderful as Democracy and Capitalism are, there is one inherent problem with them…greed. And, by definition, greed is fueled by selfishness. So, the trade-off that comes from living in a free society with free enterprise and the right to pursue happiness is the threat of selfishness and greed. Let’s face it, just about every domestic issue we face today can by boiled down to these two things in one way or another. Rarely does a powerful democracy like our own come under external threat, and when it does that threat is often quickly disposed of because capitalist nations are usually the most wealthy which also means they have the most capable military. Such is the case with America. However, there is the internal threat…greed. And that internal threat can magnify the external threats.

For instance, consider the war on terror. The Islamofascists represent an external threat to our democracy. Many of us want to fight them, many don’t. Those that don’t cite some rather admirable reasons. They oppose war. They feel all disputes can be resolved peacefully. Truly admirable, but unrealistic. Many of these people are highly intelligent and it seems like they should be in touch with reality, but that’s not the case. Or is it? It makes me wonder if maybe these admirable reasons they cite for opposing war are true, or maybe, just maybe, they don’t like war because of the possibility that THEY may be called upon to fight as well? Could their opposition be selfish in nature? It’s a thought, but I digress.

So back to abortion. Regardless of how one rationalizes it, abortion itself is a very selfish act. A mother is putting her needs before those of her child. The same is true for deadbeat dads. 25% of America’s children are born without a father, we are raising a generation of illegitimate kids, and yet we scratch our heads and wonder how drug use, alcoholism, suicide, teenage pregnancy, depression and criminal behavior is on the rise in our kids despite the trillions of dollars we spend on social programs to fight these things. The answer is selfishness and greed. Such is the trend in American society. Zell Miller says this represents a "Deficit of Decency" in our great country, and I couldn’t agree more.

So we face a dilemma. Democracy and Capitalism are conducive to greed and selfishness. It’s hard to have the freedoms we have without that sort of trend. So what do we do? Clearly, Democracy is the best form of government for man. God has endowed us with free will and only democracy allows for such at its maximal potential. Man is meant to be free, no one can argue with that. So another form of government is not an option. So how do we combat the greed that comes with the freedom?

Our Founding Fathers knew the answer. Religion. The only way a free people avoid the greed that comes from freedom is to retain their virtue, and the best way to retain virtue is by maintaining their faith…being a religious society. "Faith requires freedom, freedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith." This is the key principle to a successful democracy. These are the three pillars on which a prosperous nation must be built. If one fails, the others soon follow. Which of these are waning in America today? How is our virtue? How is our faith? How long will our freedom last?

I’m not advocating for a national religion. You can’t legislate morality. The change that must occur must occur at the social level. Basically, America needs a spiritual revival. We’ve deviated long enough from our spiritual heritage, the spiritual past that founded this country and made her strong, and now we’re beginning to suffer the consequences. This nation is eroding from within, and the point of no return is on the horizon. We are flirting with a negative birth rate. We refuse to fight back against the external threats. We are betraying our children. We are deferring to international law. We are selfish and greedy. Can America survive this way?
We’d better decide the answer to this question and fast, because if the answer is no then we don’t have a whole lot of time to fix things.