Game Over, America
by Abu Daoud
November, 2012
It was an interesting experiment, but all things come to an end. The American experiment is over now. The country is destined to decline and stagnate and there is no hope in the near or medium-term future for any sort of real recovery. Why do I say this? A few points:
1) A state is only as healthy as its families. American families have deteriorated very seriously. Unprecedented numbers of children are begotten out of wedlock and/or do not live in two-parent households. Want to know why American kids are doing so poorly in school? It's all about the family situation. Read more HERE.
2) A nation of takers. The stats are terrible. Read them all HERE. More and more Americans are consuming and not contributing to the government or common life of the country. There has been a huge rise in entitlement outlays and no one will talk about how to fix it.
3) Huge retirement costs. You know all about this already. (If not, check out this or this.)
4) An inferior generation of workers. People who are working now (my generation, I'm not a Boomer) are increasingly from the broken families of point 1. These people have lower educational skills and higher rates of drug abuse, imprisonment, and on and on. Yet this generation is supposed to foster a growing economy that will pay generous retirement benefits and (practically) free healthcare for old folks (Medicare)?
5) The transformation of marriage. Yes, gay marriage. It is here and is here to stay and will be enforced eventually by the Supreme Court. The value of marriage as an institution is already on the decline, with the proliferation of gay marriage, marriage will continue its slide into obscurity and away from the common good. Marriage will be increasingly seen as a contract between two people (or more, eventually) whose purpose is not the creation of and fostering of a family, but personal happiness. No fault divorce in the 70's was a big step toward this, and gay marriage (to be followed by polygamy--it's not a slippery slope, it's a matter of human rights) removes the last vestiges of Natural Law from the picture.
6) Immigration. Romney lost because he was forced to take such a hard position on immigration in the primaries (which are governed by old, white men). Republicans will soon realize that anything other than a liberal immigration policy, amnesty for illegal immigrants, and voluntarily not enforcing the laws on the books (like Obama), will mean no Latino vote (like Romney), and thus losing. The problem is the USA doesn't get skilled immigrants mostly, the USA gets 'family reunification' immigrants, including lots of people with few useful skills. The problem is not so much immigration, but the wrong kind of immigration. The wrong kind of immigration, and more of it, will continue, because it will get people votes.
7) The rise of childlessness: TFR must be at 2.1 for a steady population. After the economic wreck of the last few years TFR is now below that level, at 2.01. Nonetheless the USA population will continue to grow due to immigration (of the wrong kind, mostly, see point 6). With an economic recovery the TFR could recover as well, it is not disastrously low, like Spain or Japan, say. Still, given that the economic picture will not improve, and that each new US citizen is born with something like $43,000 in debt. And plus, when the price of raising children has gone up so much in a urbanized world, and there is no tangible benefit to having children, why bother?
Religious conservatives are now talking not about changing the culture. I think this election makes that impossible. Rather, they are forming strategies for surviving as the state deteriorates and becomes increasingly antagonistic towards Christian virtues and practices and freedom of religion. The home schooling movement is part of that, but just the beginning of it. Look for Christians do withdraw from society more, forming protective clusters of families, like monastics or the old Mormons. This is a reasonable strategy in my view. When Americans re-elected Obama they elected someone who is working hard at forcing Catholics to violate their conscience under the rubric of 'women's healthcare'. This is something new and insidious, yet many Catholics voted for him.
In the end the experiment is over. It will take a few decades for the city to decay into the wilderness. But when the wilderness is there, the Church will be there too, ready to forge a new nation and a new civilization, not based on the myths of the Enlightenment or the American strategy of taxing the unborn while simultaneously killing some of them.
It was an interesting experiment! Good run, America. But now it's Game Over for you.
5 comments:
I am dejected and demoralized too but it is not over. Sometimes people need to learn the hard way. It is my hope (and fear) that Obama is going to get his way on some things that are going to double down on the failures he's created. Maybe then things will get better. Only Carter could have given us Reagan.
It is important to remember that people of faith are outbreeding non-believers by a wide margin. My fear is that people will start to gather into strongholds (think Salt Lake City) and the country becomes further balkanized. Heck, the strict catholics are trying that in Ave Maria florida with some success. YMMV. The other thing to remember is that while things are, indeed, bad here. We're all that's left. There is no place else to run to.
This is a setback and not a small one. We have fundamental cultural problems wrt giving and taking and rights vs. responsibilities. Somehow I think the ship will right itself. It always has and we've had darker days than this.
Really.....?
Very articulate and, in most cases I think, spot on. But what a haughty tone and one that surprises me coming from you ; ' ) since I've been following your blog for years now.
I really appreciate Duffy's response; cheerful optimism is a key ingredient for continuing on rather than slipping into a depressed slumber. My thoughts are similar here, in that, a majority of liberalism in America makes the revolutionaries decidedly conservative. I mean revolution in the sense of rallying to grow a conservative movement in America, not a violent takeover.
You might add, 8) Inferior and liberal biased government schools. That's also part of the home school movement.
But here is an encouraging thought, the Orthodox Church is growing in America as more and more evangelicals grow weary of a weak and polluted Protestantism. Hail the Church who delivers Truth to a nation that needs it so much!
I hope you might consider ending your piece with a , "I'll be praying for you, America" rather than a "Game's Over" indifference. : )
Hi All,
I am optimistic for the Church, just not for the country. I mean, i felt like I could in some way call America a Christian country until this election. I'm now at a place where I see the US government as being against the Church and the Christian faith rather than sort of indifferent to it.
Amy: haughty tone? I can see negative or pessimistic, but not haughty. But it is a minor point. Also, I recall reading that only one or two of the Orthodox Churches in the USA are growing, while the others are declining, but I'm not an expert on the topic.
And yes, I should 8)--good point.
You raise some good points.
Thou as America has slipped in decline as it been noted there has been a conversion to the orthodox faiths. It is most evident in the Orthodox church of america, Greek Orthodox church, and Antiochion orthodox church. These have shown a very large growth.
The church will never die, not tell he comes again in Glory. Just america over the last century has turned on God in many ways and his teachings. We have separated our self and we will pay for it.
In the end america will rise again, God willing
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