Character In Crisis

Character in Crisis

America's youngest adult generation is the least politically active of any generation. Statistic after statistic tells the story of a generation that turns out to vote less frequently than others; the numbers also show that young adults are voting less than they once had. Student, Dan Macklin, of Michigan State University, feels his vote will not make a difference and believes most of the young people his age feel the same way. “I don’t vote because the vast majority of other young people don’t vote,” he says. This continues in a vicious cycle, and he concludes, “Voter apathy in our age group is its own source of a continual propagation…if a state legislator does something we don’t agree with, or enacts policies directly against us, we are powerless. They don’t address our concerns because we don’t vote. We don’t vote because they don’t address our concerns.” Young people today between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five commonly possess an attitude of political apathy when compared to the politically active youth of the 1960's, and this attitude could very well be the result of a degenerating society, specifically within the areas of leadership, law, family, and character.

Many Americans are starting to adopt laws, customs, and habits that sharply contrast with those of America’s founders. Since the 1960’s, a dramatic change in leadership has occurred. For instance, the memory of America’s reaction on the day John F. Kennedy died is colossal because the entire nation was affected. Businesses closed and strangers hugged on the street corners, while America wept for the loss of its beloved leader. To this day, Kennedy is still admired for his ethics, his courage, his endurance and his excellence in the role of a President. The expectations of a political leader are high during a time period when leaders are more prone to holding high ethical standards within their position of leadership. 

Many young people today are lowering their expectations of political leaders because these leaders have proven to be hypocritical, and scandals are continuously exposed. For example, before President Clinton testified, and before the Starr Report was released, this was written in the February 3, 1998, New York Times: “Former United States Senator, David Boren, who is now president of the University of Oklahoma, said that when he asked his freshman American Government class about the scandal, almost all the students said they believed President Clinton was lying and they tended to respond: ‘All politicians are crooks, very few of them tell the truth, few of them are faithful to their spouses, so why not have one who’s smart and knows how to get things done?’ he said, ‘That’s almost an exact quote. The attitude is, we really don’t respect him, but what do you expect from a politician?' "  These students believe the president committed adultery and then lied about it, and this makes no difference to them. " 'To me it’s deeply disturbing,' Boren went on, recalling the awe he felt when he saw his first president, Harry Truman. 'In times of crisis, times of hardship, a level of trust between the American people, and their government, particularly their leader, is an essential element of what’s needed in the country.' " Political leaders are not valued in a generation where scandalous affairs run free, nor are they trusted. In addition to a crisis in leadership, America is degenerating terribly in matters of the law.

The Constitution has evolved over the last thirty years, and amendments are often misinterpreted when people contradict their original purpose. It was originally established only for a people with strong morals and ethics; thus, the entire justice system is based on the theory that witnesses will tell the truth. Swearing an oath before God is now recited in the courts with the simple words of "I promise to tell the truth," and the reference to God has totally been removed. Today, an obvious war rages against the former mixing of religion with government. For instance, this year, State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore was defeated in his ongoing battle of trying to keep a monument of the Ten Commandments inside the Alabama state judicial building. This monument no longer stands after an official order was given to remove it. Moore is accused of imposing his own religion on the state of Alabama; however, Moore believes his placement of the monument within the judicial building portrays "the moral foundations of the law" and reflects the "sovereignty of God over the affairs of men." The disturbing issue is not necessarily the removal of a rock that displayed the Ten Commandments, but a federal judge's misinterpretation of the constitution and the Supreme Court's backing of his verdict. The first amendment reads, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…." The First Amendment does prohibit the establishment of any single denomination as a state religion, but it certainly does not deny our government the right to acknowledge God. Society is adjusting to the idea of being politically correct; therefore, they are imposing it in every aspect of the law. A new generation is being molded to show little understanding and respect for the laws that have shaped this nation. The young people of today are not to blame for this lack of respect because a dramatic breakdown in family is also transpiring.

The structure and government within families is changing, and families are considered by some to be the backbone of a nation. The majority of wives in a family now work; as a result, spouses inevitably compete with each other. Divorce now runs rampant and is widely accepted, and the children suffer for it. A spiteful cycle is started, for dysfunctional families produce dysfunctional children. In a like manner, strong marriages build strong children. America’s second president, John Adams believed, "the foundation of national morality must be laid in private families," and went on to say that children will learn the meaning of morality, religion, and respect for law from the habitual fidelity of their parents to one another. Furthermore, a lack of authoritative structure in families can promote indifference towards government and politics, and can equate to little or no respect for authority.

Alarmingly, parents are beginning to lose certain disciplinary rights concerning their children. Lack of discipline was once thought to be due to bad parenting, bad character, or both. However, spanking is no longer accepted in a politically correct society, and is thought by some to be a crime. Children can easily turn the tables on their parents by accusations of "child abuse" after simply receiving a disciplinary action that has been around for centuries. Many states are considering anti-spanking laws, and in some states these laws have already been passed and are in effect. Parents are then left to other forms of discipline and in turn the children do not always learn to respect authority or the basic rules established in a household. What people learn in their households shapes their view towards society. As the average family degenerates by pulling further away from the roots of their forefathers, it cultivates an unavoidable depletion of character, fueled by a crisis in identity and an overall attitude of selfishness.

The intent of America's forefathers was to establish a collective purpose, to create a system that worked for the people, and to promote the "give" way of life. But in most cases, no longer is the focus on "We the people" as it was in the Constitution; instead, the focus has shifted to "Me the person." Developments in technology over the past three decades are providing young people with the novel privilege of having everything "at their fingertips." The character, gained from the once needed work ethic of their ancestors, is quickly vaporizing within a large amount of young adults, and a plague of discontentment is spreading. Liberty and independence are both taken for granted and little respect is shown for the political history that created it. As the notion of a “collective purpose” decreases, and respect for the history of America diminishes, so does the character of the American people.

The relationship of people to government does affect their character and overall way of life. Some of the more conservative Americans understand this. Angelo Codevilla wrote in The Character of Nations, "…our character makes the biggest difference in how we live, we realize that government influences citizens' character, just as the character of citizens shapes the government. Regardless of where we begin, we are compelled to deal with the relationship between how we govern ourselves and how we live." Character does affect how leaders lead; and the character of a leader, whether good or bad, does influence the people.

For the founding forefathers, one voice did make a difference, and character meant everything to the success of the nation. James Madison said, “we have staked the whole future of American civilization, not on the power of government…[but] upon the capacity of each and every one of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God,” and this means developing character and integrity. America’s young people are the products of a deteriorating society, and without the ideals of the founding leaders they are in danger of falling into the pit of political apathy. Most of today’s young adults are in desperate need of “a call to remembrance,” to the once strong society that valued character; one that built integrity within the family, one that honored the laws of the land, one that respected the leaders of liberty, and one that faithfully called itself the United States of America. Each generation does hold the power to stand up, and change the course of the nation; just as one lonely voice can inspire, and change the minds of eighteen to twenty-four year olds like Dan Macklin, who claim to have no collective purpose.

(An essay for the true American, 2017)