What Has Gone Wrong?

Over the course of the last three weeks I have written about a variety of problems that currently beset our country.  I have complained about our lost moral compass, shared ignorance, and descent into a decadence akin to ancient Rome.

The question that must now be asked is why has this happened?  Why have we, still the wealthiest and most powerful nation on the planet, sunk into a trough of despair?  Why has the American Dream evaporated and been replaced by a miasma of doubt and confusion?

Think about it.  Contemporary liberals are seriously flirting with a presidential candidate who is an avowed socialist.  Not many years ago, their parents swore up and down that this would never be the case.  Once upon a time, they too insisted upon protecting our capitalistic values.

And what about those Christian evangelicals who are voting for Donald Trump?  Aren’t they aware that his lifestyle is the antithesis of that recommended by their faith?  Have they too embraced a “non-judgmental” philosophy that regards every sort of behavior as equally valid?

Instead of a defense of democracy and freedom, we find a nihilism that is more against who we are than for anything definitive.  Trump tells us he wants to make America great again, but does not say how.  His rants are mostly about insulting those he regards as enemies.

Meanwhile Hillary asserts that we are still great.  Although she is aware of how angry voters are with Obama’s legacy, she promises us a continuation of his policies—only more so.  She too struggles to be inspirational, but what is it to which she aspires?

So tell me: What has the American Dream been transformed into?  Is it about everyone having the opportunity to get rich?  How can this be true when the rich have become everyone’s favorite whipping boy?   Nowadays even proclaimed conservatives want to impose higher taxes on them.

Or is it the freedom to speak our minds without being cast into a dungeon?  This too no longer makes sense.  In today’s political climate, college students can’t even support their favorite candidate with chalk slogans lest they be threatened with sensitivity training.

Indeed, is it freedom at all when Republicans promise to punch Democrats in the nose, while Democrats disinvite Republicans from graduation ceremonies?  The tolerance implied by liberty has clearly fallen upon hard times.  It has apparently come to mean allowing people to be themselves—as long as we approve.

A new tribalism evidently pervades our nation.   Blacks hate whites and whites fear blacks.  Women accuse men of brutality, while men cower when blamed for selfishness.  Gays take offense at the slightest indication they might be disliked, while straights apologize for their sexual orientation.

What has this come down to?  Is there nothing that we truly believe in?  Has our goal been reduced to hiding behind a wall of impenetrable music or pretending to be who we are not on the Internet?  Are these worthy ambitions?

I believe we are in an ideological crisis.  The ideals that we use to guide our personal and collective decisions have lost their appeal.  We no longer know where we are going because our world is not the one in which these standards arose.  Having achieved prosperity and power, we are not sure what we want.

Classical liberalism has not fulfilled our desires.  But neither has classical conservatism.  For that matter, neither have religion or science.  We may still recite the catechisms attached to these idea systems, yet they do not stimulate the loyalty they once did.

So what will be our fate?  The politicians certainly don’t have the answers.  But neither do the academics or prelates.  People may clamor for reform, nonetheless they have no conception of the shape it should take.  The best they manage are empty shibboleths. 

Over the next few weeks I will try to provide some solutions to this conundrum.  Let’s see if I can do better.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University