Free Republic

Cultural Inertia: Remember how 45 years ago we were suddenly able to say: "If we can send a man to the moon, why can't we (fill in the blank)"? If only we could say the same today. It's worth remembering Neil Armstrong's July 21, 1969 "giant leap for mankind," if only as a measure of what the country used to be able to accomplish, but increasingly can't do today. When President Kennedy announced his goal of "sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to earth" in less than nine years, it was a laughably audacious promise. By...

It was a time when America desperately needed heroes. As the institutions and beliefs that formed the heritage of the nation were being systematically dismantled by counterculture revolutionaries, those who held such things in high regard fervently sought for inspiring reminders of America’s greatness. But all the pop culture of the late 1960’s had to offer in response were its own icons of social collapse, as epitomized by Bob Dylan and Abby Hoffman. The flag was routinely being publicly desecrated, and contempt shown towards every building block of the American establishment. Nihilism and anti-Americanism appeared to be winning the day....