We are living at the end of the Golden Age.

There was a time when people were content to be people, when personal responsibility got you respect, when hard work and ability got you to the top, when integrity counted for something, when thinking was the handmaiden of logic, when education concentrated on basics, and when emotions were kept in check by the pressing needs of the day.

Well, we've arrived.

By and large, people no longer have any worries about getting food to the table. They don't find it necessary to search out a roof to sleep under. And concerns about basic clothing have become absolutely foreign to us. We've moved far beyond all these things.

Our focus now is on counting the grams of sugars and fats we eat, checking our credit reports to see if we can afford that big house on the hill, and keeping up with the latest stylings in footwear and grungy outfits.

The time span of our attentions to basic needs now stands at about zero. The balance of our 24-hour day is spent chattering on cell phones, surfing the net, driving our vehicles in endless circles, working from paycheck to paycheck, watching inane programs on television, paying an inordinate amount of attention to our feelings, and searching out the latest fads in gourmet foods, gourmet medications, and gourmet politics. To feel important, we take seminars, join feel-good organizations, and chase every new way to save the planet--all without so much as a second thought.

The people who built this country did not have many college degrees--in fact, most had very little formal education. They constructed a land of opportunity, without volumes of rules and regulations--how on earth was that possible without an FDA or a Department of Education? They managed both social and private enterprises without polls and studies and armies of bureaucrats. In short, they built the country that became the Golden Age we inherited.

Yes, our parents and grandparents and their grandparents faced problems along the way. But they kept building, solving many of the problems as they went. They also left some problems for us to solve.

We have become so focused on and involved in solving some of these problems that it has become a problem itself. Solving energy problems is no longer about developing supplies of energy--it's turning into Let's stop using so much. Solving environmental problems is no longer about cleaning up after ourselves--it's turning into Should we use paper or plastic?  Solving education problems is no longer about teaching kids the basics--it's turning into How can we expand our diversity program, and by the way, where's that grief counselor? Solving health problems is no longer about healthy living--it's turning into Just tell me what drug I should take.

We've stopped building a country, and we've turned all of our time and attention inward--to marginal activities and avenues that lead nowhere. We're in danger of losing our primary focus--to see to the future for our children.

The Golden Age was given to us by our parents and grandparents and their grandparents. We inherited the mechanisms they put in place, in medicine, in education, in business, in political systems. It has ended.

Will there be a second Golden Age? Look in the mirror.

From: Saving Western Civilization, Al Warr, 2008

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