Demographically and politically that was made obvious. However, there are less obvious evidences this is an emerging new culture. Rejoice that there are personal oases where the values and virtues that have long identified our culture are not being blanched from the fabric that has long been America. Yet ....
Among the citizens of the new America many traits are waning. Personally and corporately some identifiable admirable qualities are no longer the norm.
Fading, but fortunately not gone are noteworthy attributes, such as:
Civility has been escorted off stage and replaced by rudeness or apathetic coolness.
Courtesy is passé. “Me first” is now head of the line.
Social grace is engulfed in a vortex of rudeness. Where is Captain Kangaroo when we need him to remind us of the magic words “please” and “thank you.”
In many quarters deception mocks integrity. Lacking integrity, our culture suffers from a poor quality of workmanship, honesty in business transactions and keeping commitments.
Many do not consider it a virtue to have a good work ethic. Do as little as you must to get as much as you can is the active axiom. Indifference is a prevailing demeanor. The conductor on the “Little Train That Could” is now the apathetic “Mr. Whatever.”
Far too many decisions are made on the basis of passion not principles.
One out of every three citizens under age thirty is classified as a “none” because they have no religion. Couple that with the fact 70 percent of all churches in America have either plateaued or are declining and it marginalized the religious community, making it a non-player in society.
The theme of 88 percent of sitcoms is based on unapologetic sexual immorality. We nictitate at adultery and scoff at family values.
A sense of entitlement has rudely brushed aside the concept of personal responsibility and accountability.
Remember the old adages “How may I serve you?” and “The customer is always right.” Persons whose mantra is “no problem” and “no big deal” need to go to Chick-fil-A and learn a better response: “My pleasure.”
Patriotism is virtually mocked by dispassionate freemen/freewomen. Singing the National Anthem and Pledging Allegiance are passing along with “The Greatest Generation.” Remember them?
Well, maybe not in that the emerging generations are likely unaware that generation simultaneously fought and won two world wars on opposite sides of the planet. In doing so they preserved the freedoms we now abuse.
I never thought that I, a lifelong optimistic zealot, enthusiastic about America would write such a summary.
What is a person to do? A resounding course reverberates “Suck it up and get used to it.”
That I refuse to do. I accept it, but do not approve of it. Therefore, I will encourage the significant segment interested in morals and manners to recommit ourselves to impact our little spheres of influence for renewal.
The Rev. Dr. Nelson Price is pastor emeritus of Roswell Street Baptist Church.
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Oh Mr Price, once again very cleverly, yet very selectively you have pointed to "historical" changes in our country and then leapt to grand conclusions about the demise of our great nation.
Any serious student of history will easily see through this. You and your right wing brethren are simply replaying hysterics and doom in the aftermath of a, OMG, a Democrat being elected to the highest office in the land. Let's take a look back in time -- a short 4 years ago upon the election of Obama, the Wall Street Journal published a "what-if" expose about what the US might look like if it was to break into smaller, regional nations, as if secession was afoot...this manufactured "storyline" was accompanied by the manufactured movement now called the "Tea Party".
Before that, upon Clinton's election, right wingers were so moved into paranoid hysterics that well-funded organizations turned over every rock, determined to find some sort of Clintonian plot. Why I seem to recall more than just the fringes of the right imagining that black helicopters were scanning the land in preparation for a global tribunal that was surely about to seize power...lol, what nuts huh?
Before that...Carter was deemed a dangerous radical...Johnson a power-hungry nut job...Kennedy a tool for the Vatican...Truman, a simpleton not up to the task...Roosevelt, a closeted commie -- it's frankly amazing to me that this rather simple playbook has stood the test of time and not recognized for the ridiculousness that it is.
Give me a break...what you and your fellow travelers suffer from Mr Price is a sort of partisan-fueled paranoia that gets amplified through the arrogance that suffuses right wing ideology and an ignorance of the repetitive nature of your own hysterics.
Otherwise, have a lovely and prosperous Thanksgiving holiday...of course, I guess you may view Thanksgiving as just another US tradition that, due to the results of the election, is surely facing imminent collapse due to the
anti-turkey tendencies of the electorate.
You're guy doesn't win the election and now America is in clear decline, run by a bunch of amoral, rude, lazy whining, short-cutters?
Your remembrance of "how America used to be" is merely a one-sided Hallmark card version of an America that never really was plus you fail to acknowledge the real gains brought to our society and nation by the expansive, free-thinkers rooted in 1950's and 1960's counter-cultural movements (examples the civil rights movement, virtual communities networked through electronics -- ever heard of Steve Jobs?, women's rights....just to name a few).
Given your state of apparent despair for things past, I suggest you curl up with an anthology of "Mad Men" episodes and continue to daydream about the "good old days" while the rest of us work on continuing our progress forward as an enlightened society.
Wow, patriot, nice rant, except you forgot to do one thing. You did not attribute the source of your rant. Was it from the union thugs handbook, LGBT playbook, Planned Parent manual, ACORN guide book, Eric Holder's book, How To Lie Effectively? Oh, I got it now, it was from Barrack Obama's latest novel entitled The Blood of Fast & Furious and The Blood of Bengahzi Are Bush's Fault.
And your point is?
OK, so you spewed a list of name calling. Now can you give something of substance, as to what your point is?