Posted on 07/31/2011 5:59:13 AM PDT by InvisibleChurch
The clock is ticking. The United States is on the verge of default. Congress and the president seem unable to come together and find an agreement avoiding an economic catastrophe.
How in the world did we get into this fix? Well, it didn’t happen overnight. It’s been coming for a generation. For years, fiscal conservatives have warned about the dangers of out-of-control borrowing and spending, but current and previous presidents and congresses have ignored them, rolling up a massive national debt.
The bigger question is why did the American people stand for this? The answer is painfully clear. Because the people themselves were busy borrowing and spending like fiends.
Americans as a rule used to be a frugal people. They believed in the Protestant work ethic — an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, save for a rainy day, don’t go deep into debt. But something changed, and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman — whom I respect though often disagree with — hit the nail on the head.
“The generation that came of age in the last 50 years,” he writes, “will be remembered most for the incredible bounty and freedom it received from its parents and the incredible debt burden and constraints it left on its kids.” Friedman calls this the “clash of generations.” The greatest generation scrimped and saved; their kids, the boomers, went on a big shopping binge.
This is what happens when a false worldview comes home to roost. Remember that it was in the 1960s that existentialism and relativism took over college campuses. If there truly were no God and life were devoid of meaning, well, live it up while you can. Throw off the burden of moral restraints, of civic duty and responsibility. Find fulfillment in pleasure and self-actualization; not in service to others or in building a good and just society. Thus was ushered in what Christopher Lasch called the age of narcissism.
There’s only one problem with the existentialist/relativistic worldview and the self-centeredness it breeds: It doesn’t work. It doesn’t foster the self-discipline, prudence, and moral character that individuals and societies need in order to flourish.
No wonder then, according to the Department of Commerce, when adjusting for inflation Americans spent more than they earned in most months from 2000 through 2008. Even without adjusting for inflation, monthly personal saving was usually less than three percent. This means people were borrowing more than they could repay.
Jesus asked the right question. Who would who set out to build a tower who did not “first sit down and estimate the cost” (Luke 14:28). Actually, we’re worse off than that. We borrowed heavily to build the tower, only to find out now it is about to be repossessed!
Not all the news is bad, though. Since 2008, Americans have awakened to reality and begun to spend less and save more. We’ve put off that vacation, coaxed a few thousand more miles out of the old car. We’ve tightened our belts. Now it’s time to make sure the government does the same.
Are folks beginning to figure out that we’ve been building a tower on a false worldview? That chasing self-fulfillment and living for the moment lead inevitably to moral and economic poverty? Well, we’ll see.
But it’s a fair question, and we, the Church, must raise it again and again. For our good and for the good of all.
“Remember that it was in the 1960s that existentialism and relativism took over college campuses.”
Huh? Social Security was put in place during FDR’s Administration. Medicare and Medicaid in the mid 60’s - prior to the liberal “takeover” of Academia. This problem of debt was brought about by politicians promising more and more goodies to the elderly - most of whom were of the “Greatest Generation.” Colson should stick to rehabbing convicted felons.
You’re on the right track. But the unleashing of a pandering tyrannical Federal government goes all the way back to Lincoln.
FDR was the "Progressive" takeover of America, It has been the "Progressives" that have brought us to this, and they have mainly done so by taking over the Media, academia, and the educational system.
Progressives disdain the Constitution and the idea of limited government.
People can only act on what they know. The information that the people have received has been 95 percent progressive for decades.
What we are seeing is the collapse of the progressive mediacracy.
List all the “influences” you’d like. Saying the problem is due to Lincoln, the Masons, UFO’s, or hippie 60’s liberals is obfuscation. The simple fact remains (which Colson conveniently didn’t bother to mention) - our budget problems stem are very straightforward. The entitlement programs are consuming more and more of the Federal budget. They need to be reformed.
Exactly. Losing States Rights let loose the federal monster.
“The entitlement programs are consuming more and more of the Federal budget.”
And the problem is in the very name of these programs. We’ve created a system in which everyone—poor, middle class, and wealthy—feel “entitled” to $3 in Medicare benefits for every dollar of payroll taxes they contribute to support that program. Does Warren Buffett really need Uncle Sam’s assistance in paying his medical bills?
On this we can agree. But the question then becomes what is to be done? And that is where a proper understanding of how we got here can be helpful.
“And that is where a proper understanding of how we got here can be helpful.”
No its a wasteful distraction. To solve this issue, the conversation needs to be as straightforward as the only solutions: cut benefits to reduce expenses, increase taxes to pay for benefits or a combo of the two. Pick your poison.
Colson has diagnosed the problem correctly but he shouldn't let some of the worst culprits off the hook.
The beginning of this disaster was indeed the progressivism of the early 20th century. Colson is right that we could have largely avoided it if we had not abandoned the virtues of sacrifice and hard work. The wholesale repudiation of these virtues started in the 60s.
And a lot of these politicians who bankrupted this country were so hell bent on doing so. And we will be paying dearly to clean up the mess. A lot of it was due to the Fed and their assets should be confiscated under RICO and put out of business.
I can see the “balance sheet” in my own life and it doesn’t look very good and I call myself a “conservative.”
Things are changing now that I’m sober and sane (recovering) from my addictive behavior.
Anger with politicians past and present must be tempered with what Glenn Beck described on Friday as “taking responsibility for your own lives”.
It needs to be done since the system is virtually certain to come down at some point, sooner or later.
“Huh? Social Security was put in place during FDR’s Administration. Medicare and Medicaid in the mid 60’s - prior to the liberal “takeover” of Academia. This problem of debt was brought about by politicians promising more and more goodies to the elderly - most of whom were of the “Greatest Generation.” Colson should stick to rehabbing convicted felons.”
The establishing of SS and some of the other things by FDR and others since was bad and partly lead to what we have today, but the total unraveling of long-established moral norms by my (60s) generation has pushed this much more rapidly than it was traveling along by itself. “Free sex” and the industry that it promoted have exponentially promoted our demise. Now, there is no putting the “cap” back onto that jar because it is like a fire hydrant gushing with too much force to get the cap back on. In the 60s, everyone began to believe that all things were relative, a teaching that has caught on much more than one thinks. Things used to be much more black and white, but today, everything is a shade of grey. This is NO ACCIDENT.
Yup.
I read that if we completely cut out everything else in the budget except for Social Security and Medicare, we still couldn't balance the budget without borrying.
IMO, any serious cuts will lead to some sort of civil strife in the US.
People who are planning for SS to be a large part of their retirement income should change course immediately.
Serious cuts will have the be made to these programs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.