While America faces many problems, perhaps there is only a basic one. In The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand said, “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.”

For a long period, I have felt somewhat like an alien in my own country. Our country’s Judeo-Christian underpinnings, culture, and our moral fiber and long-standing traditions have taken a severe beating in recent decades. The society I knew growing up is being increasingly replaced by a society foreign to me and many fellow citizens. Yea, I know there are many, perhaps the majority these days, who think it is about time that happened, but I do not believe that notion for one minute. Majorities are not always right as history tells us. When the fog clears, if it ever does, I think we may well long for the common sense of our past as we endure the chaos of the new reality.

A man has recently been punished for abandoning rats by the side of the road because they could not be in the same house with his new baby. Pet rats? I suppose. Perhaps he could have found a new “home” for the rats, but punishing a father for trying to protect his new baby seems over the top.

Many American Idol contestants obviously have totally unrealistic views of their talent, as do their parents. When one has little or no singing talent, as is so obviously evident in some, one wonders where the high opinion of their abilities originated. Does it originate from parents and/or schools who believe a good self-image is the pinnacle of the healthy? As a former educator, I have always thought, based on personal experience with students and my own children, that when there is no failure, no expectation to improve, and praising everything as great, we do a great disservice to young people. Accomplishment, not undeserved or over-abundant praise, leads to good self-image. An overly inflated ego/self-image, especially when unwarranted, is hardly a healthy mental condition.

Mail carriers in various United States areas have hoarded mail they were hired to deliver, in one case, four tons of mail, some ten years old. What is amiss in a society that no longer has a solid work ethic? Most of us have worked with individuals who simply punch the time clock, do sloppy work, and have no pride in a job well done. All that is important to these folks is the expectation of that entitled paycheck, and that they are owed something by society because they find themselves on this earth.

A current and young Hollywood star is discussed in an article by Dotson Rader, “The Mixed-Up Life of Shia LaBeouf” that appeared in the June 14, 2009 issue of Parade. LaBeouf is quoted as saying, “Sometimes I feel I’m living a meaningless life, and I get frightened…I don’t give a damn about the money. I used to. Money is the reason I became an actor…I don’t handle fame well. Most actors on most days don’t think they’re worthy. I have no idea where this insecurity comes from, but it’s a God-sized hole. If I knew, I’d fill it, and I’d be on my way.” Is it perhaps possible that we alone are not capable of filling those kinds of voids in our lives? Is it not possible that only God and religious faith can fulfill empty lives? But those thoughts are not politically correct or enlightened these days, are they?

Our public educational institutions are in turmoil and have been for years. There is a moral vacuum and religious hostility (towards Christianity only it appears) in many, if not most, of these institutions that must and will play out in our young people’s lives beyond the walls of the ivory towers. And I think it has become increasingly clear that society will not be the beneficiary. A kid cannot read a Bible in a quiet place at recess time. Kids are barred from handing out fliers and using the PA system to announce a before-school prayer event. Student art that features Christian religious symbols is taboo. Students invited to perform an act of their own choosing for a talent show cannot use songs with religious themes because they are “too religious.” Youngsters can dress as Satan for Halloween but not like Jesus. They can share tales of witches but not stories from the Bible. Other religions do not face the same obstacles in our schools and colleges. Why? Is there no common sense or sense of fairness inherent in educational administrators, school boards, or boards of trustees? Has all this been abandoned in favor of political correctness, sheer nonsense, or thinly masked efforts to damage/extinguish Christianity and/or Christians?

As abortions have increased, all life has been devalued. The question for some people is, if abortion is acceptable up to nine months, how can it be so wrong to throw a new born in the dumpster or kill infants who are not wanted? Why are people punished for the death of a fetus in the womb in an auto accident but not for an abortion? One wonders why the moral confusion in these situations? As pornography has gone main-street, why have sex crimes increased, especially against the young? Yea, I have heard the explanation that the population has simply increased, and these crimes have always been with us, but we never heard about them. Sorry, I am not buying!

The news has been filled in recent years with reports of: violence in our schools, workplaces, churches, malls, et cetera; financial gurus scamming investors; businessmen cheating companies and/or driving them into bankruptcy; rampant cheating at all levels of our society; elected officials violating the public trust by enriching themselves, their families, their friends, special interests, and padding legislation with boondoggles, thus cheating the hard-working American taxpayers.

Congress grants its members a raise while thousands of Americans lose their jobs. Congress spends billions--no, it's trillions now--with no accountability and pours billions into their own districts and states for special projects as they prepare for their next reelection. Then they hold hearings and lecture citizens about some perceived bad behavior. It is a disgrace and a fraud! Some of us see through it; why can't we all? Congress, with the help of Presidents, racks up a deficit that our children and grandchildren cannot possibly repay. There will be dire consequences to this violation of the public trust.

This nonsense seems to go on endlessly. So, what’s the basic problem in America? I would suggest it is a moral one, it is looking the other way, and it is refusing to see what is clearly evident! And this is a crisis! Make no mistake about it.

President Calvin Coolidge once said, “A nation that is morally dead will soon be financially dead.”

 My cousin Bill in Stillwater, Oklahoma recently sent me this interesting e-mail, one I had never before seen:

“These “Ten Points” appear every February 12 in an Illinois newspaper honoring Abraham Lincoln:

*You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

*You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

*You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

*You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

*You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

*You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

*You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class-hatred.

*You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.

*You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man’s initiative and independence.

*You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."

--Reverend William John Henry Boetcker (1873-1962)

I had never heard of Reverend Boetcker before this. He was born in Germany, but after immigrating to the United States became an ordained Presbyterian minister and a successful motivational speaker. I doubt he was a liberal. His pamphlet “The Ten Cannots” was published in 1916, yet many people over the years have attributed his “ten cannots” to Abraham Lincoln.

I find Reverend Boetcker’s “Ten Cannots” instructive in our current situation. America faces economic chaos; rising unemployment; business failures; home foreclosures; businesses requesting federal bailouts; increasing federal deficits; business and government corruption; Congressional earmarks; expanding government programs; an increasing entitlement burden; citizens/businesses infected with the victim, welfare, and entitlement gimme-syndrome; a lack of personal responsibility; growing personal debt; proposed tax increases on those with higher incomes and on businesses or more likely on all of us; politicians and citizens advocating class envy and hatred; citizens’ independence and initiative replaced with dependency; expanding government into all aspects of public and private life; a public education system in total chaos with the educational establishment and teacher’s unions saying for decades that more money would solve the problems; and, a host of other problems. Now we have bailout requests from state governments who have spent beyond their means and are facing huge deficits, especially California where liberals in the state legislature have spent like drunken sailors for years. Now California has an 11.2 billion dollar budget gap, while Texas has a current surplus of over 11 billion dollars. This old guy thinks something is going on in California that is obviously not happening in Texas. What could that be? Following the “ten cannots” would have prevented at least some of these problems. Even though lengthy, it would also behoove Americans to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Ronald Reagan’s three statements below need to be heard once again:

*“In Washington people don’t realize that you can’t drink yourself sober or spend yourself rich; that you can’t prime the pump without pumping the prime.”

*”There are two ways of doing things: the right way, and the way they do it in Washington.”

*”When our struggle seems hard, remember what Eric Liddell, Scotland’s Olympic champion runner, said in Chariots of Fire. He said, 'So where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within. God made me for a purpose, and I will run for His pleasure.' If we trust in Him, keep His word, and live our lives for His pleasure, He’ll give us the power we need—power to fight the good fight, to finish the race, and to keep the faith.”

As it is with an individual, so it is with America.