WHERE TO FROM HERE?

    The period of 1870 to the present has been a period of immense change and yet continuity.

    We have gone from outhouses to indoor plumbing and horse drawn carts to spacecraft. Technological changes have led to great improvements. They have also led to a feeling of being cogs in a wheel and nothing more and dehumanization.

    We have gone from a rural to an urban nation. We are no longer dependent on the weather and yet it still lets us know who is boss with a tornado or a flood. The increased density of the city has provided cultural opportunities. It has also led to isolation within urban areas that may be as complete as the isolation of the pioneer of old.

    We have gone from the greatest industrial power in the world to a nation that appears to be economically on the decline and yet we hear the prophets saying that the future is in service economy and that we are supreme in that area.

    We have gone from individualism, individual responsibility and laissez faire government to an emphasis on groups and victims and the government being responsible for our welfare-materially and even spiritually. The religion is Darwinism and Pragmatism with no absolutes except for change and the professionals knowing what is best for the people.

    In foreign affairs we have gone back and forth between unilateral action and multinational action. Today we appear to be into a united world which will be formed in our image. Unfortunately or fortunately, the amount of diversity in the world leads one to the conclusion that the one world concept is fallacious.

    We have had the idealism of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy to inspire us and to strive for something more and the common man flavor of Harding, Coolidge and Eisenhower.

    Many problems are still with us. Poverty amidst wealth is still part of American life and the gap between the wealthy and poor once again is on the rise. Freedom requires balance and yet there seems to be a tendency to go to extremes. Without rules and laws there is no freedom. Our government also seems to be driven by crises. The fuel crisis of World War I, the Great Depression,the oil crisis of 1973,etc. Perhaps that is a weakness of our form of government.

    In studying American history, hopefully you have learned a bit about how we arrived at where we are and have some understanding of our leaders and their actions for they are a reflection of the past. One can't predict the future, for there are so many variables, but understanding and knowing something of the past gives us an idea of some possible responses to the events of the present.

    Perhaps as a nation we are in decline. Similarities can be found to the rise and fall of past empires. The Roman and British empires dealt with pollution , inflation and falling productivity. They became welfare, entitlement based states. They dealt with the problems of material prosperity and lives of luxury and the unwillingness to risk and sacrifice. The Romans and others had with professional armies instead of citizen armies. They dealt with the problems of individual interests no longer coinciding with the needs of the empire. They dealt with people emphasizing their particular ethnicity over their allegiance to the nation or empire.

    The United States has great potential. The United States does not have to fall as an empire, but to survive we must regain the will to empire. We must find that unifying spirit that makes people be Americans first, that makes them see a future in being an American. We must find a shared vision that inspires as the Statue of Liberty did in the past.

     Copyright © 2005 Gary Brady