Catastrophe

The wheels have been coming off the Obama administration.  Domestically and internationally, policy failures abound.  At home, the IRS, VA, Immigration, and Obamacare debacles linger.  Abroad, ISIS, the Ukraine, and China present challenges that our president and his minions do not know how to address.

But things are worse than that.  Unless corrections are made, over a hundred thousand Americans will lose their employer-based medical insurance, the national debt will rise to unsustainable proportions, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will go broke, a roaring inflation will erupt and the economy will continue to limp along.

How bad do things have to get before people realize that we require major fixes?  The president and his allies are in a deep state of denial.  They have become so adept at rationalizing their mistakes that they have come to believe their cover stories.  They genuinely consider others to be at fault.

A couple of weeks ago, I read a book by Hugh Trevor-Roper about seventeenth century Europe, which got me thinking.  This was the period during which the Counter-Reformation was tearing the continent apart.  What struck me is that people back then did not make significant changes until a catastrophe was upon them—and sometimes not even then.

Thus while England was going through the paroxysms of its Civil War thereby reforming its central government, Spain circled the wagons to preserve the indefensible excesses of its monarchy.  As a consequence England prospered, while Spain declined.

Sometimes a catastrophe can be swift and wrenching.  A disaster, such as Germany’s total defeat during World War II, can be so unsettling that people are prepared to accept something new.  Sometimes if can take centuries of humiliation, as with China, before its leaders contemplate significant correctives.

What will be the case with the United States?   We have become so fat and happy, that we assume our position as the dominant super-power is preordained.  We also seem to believe that we do not have to improve on our institutions because they are nearly perfect.

Sadly, most Americas do not even pay attention to the news.  Many are content to collect their transfer payments from the federal government without straining their mental faculties to recognize that the wolf is at the door.

My father used to tell me that I should learn from his mistakes.  I was asked to heed his warnings and mend my ways.  Years of hard experience, however, taught me that almost no one follows such advice.  It is only when we ourselves encounter substantial difficulties that we are prepared to consider real alternatives.

To what extent is this liable to be true for our nation?  Will we be like the junky who becomes so addicted to heroin that he dies of an overdose before he can kick the habit?  Or will we be like the pothead who gradually gives up the weed as he matures?

In other words, will the binge we are presently on inflict so many wounds that a recovery is not possible?  Will we spend so much—so foolishly—that the capital needed to rebuild our economy will have been squandered?  Will we so weaken our military that small threats accumulate into insurmountable ones?

The process of turning our ship of state around is bound to be slow and laborious.  Nonetheless, the sort of instant gratification to which we have become accustomed is not in the cards.  Significant changes in cultures and institutions are always difficult.

The question that I earlier asked can thus be put another way.  Do we have the moral fiber to pursue so challenging a mission?  Has our pioneering spirit so completely eroded that we cannot tear ourselves away from our video games, Reality TV, and Caribbean vacations?

I hope so, but I am not sure.  Things are bad and getting worse, but can we stop our slide before the catastrophe is fully upon us.  The choice is, as usual, up to us.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University