On social decadence

It is clear to many social observers that today's Amerika has fallen far from the ideal Republic under which it was founded.  Many disagree on the causes therein.  Some blame increased individualism, others blame increased government (I fall into this camp), still others say that we have turned away from God, etc. etc.

But there is a general harmony by all that there are some troubling symptoms which portend the fall of the United States as a stable society, and a force for moral good in the world.

I'm not going to focus on our imperial arrogance, the manner in which we attempt to control world affairs with a heavy hand, as a means of projecting State power and enriching the power elites. In this matter it is difficult to change people's preconceived opinions - either you are for the State or against it.  No, I will focus this evening on the symptoms of decadence we all indisputably see in our daily lives.  If you are one of the Remnant few, you will understand what I am talking about.

I first became convinced that Western civilization was done for around 1978.  This was the year which that excreable Rod Stewart tune "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" was released. Heretofore all the changes for the negative I had witnessed in my life up to that point - the increased moral liberality; the growing focus on rampant casual sex; the embrace of smoking, drinking, long hair; the deterioration of grooming and dressing standards; the statist political turns - I had only perceived as growing nuisances, something to be ignored and dealt with as reasonably as possible. It was that song which changed my thinking - something snapped in my thought process. The music sounded as if it had come from Hell itself, as if Satan had composed the very rhythm. I found myself thinking that if Hell had a disco, this would be the music which would be playing there.

Since that year the world which my generation knew has been exploded even further. "Respectable" people have found it more than appropriate to couple and uncouple at will, produce various children with different partners (whether married or unmarried), cohabit without legal sanction, survive from welfare and entitlement payments, etc. etc.  This is behavior that was once exclusively associated with ghetto Blacks and other underclass dwellers.  And if to insult us further, the entire society has turned away from productive work (choosing the "easier" labor of the service sector and the paper pushing economy) and retooled its energies toward the pursuit of crass pleasure and excess.  Alcohol, sports, gambling, drugs, wild parties, conspicuous consumption on a level unknown in history - all are symptoms of the disease afflicting Amerika today.

If we are to be a prosperous society we must be a moral society.  The rate of real personal income growth has stagnated since 1973.  There are several reasons for this (mostly State caused) but it certainly doesn't help that the core postmodern values of "if it feels good, do it" and "something for nothing" have largely prevailed during that time.

Consuming more than one produces is a moral sin, and also unsustainable from an economic and material standpoint. Easy credit (thanx, Greensham) has enabled an orgy of consumption beyond the wildest dreams of the State economic planners. However, inevitably the bill comes due. What will we do when that time comes, when we are broke and destitute - financially, economically, morally?