Why It's All Going to Hell in a Handbasket

Cal Thomas laments in Townhall this morning that this isn't the America he grew up in. No question about it, but why is that so? Charles Murray provides as clear and concise an answer as I have read anywhere and it is well worth reading. 

He first quotes Samuel Huntington who said that our two unique attributes distinguishing Americans from the rest of the world are our Anglo Protestant heritage and the idea that this country is unique. The former is gradually disappearing as other Christian traditions and other religions have settled here, plus the increasing number that have abandoned religion altogether. Unfortunately, the second attribute, which Murray refers to the "American Creed," has been under sustained attack for 50 years and is unraveling as well. 

The American Creed can be summarized thusly:


Its three core values may be summarized as egalitarianism, liberty and individualism. From these flow other familiar aspects of the national creed that observers have long identified: equality before the law, equality of opportunity, freedom of speech and association, self-reliance, limited government, free-market economics, decentralized and devolved political authority.

It does not take long analyzing any one of these threads of the American Creed to understand why our social fabric is coming apart at the seams. Take egalitarianism or lack of class consciousness. 

Murray writes that:

"Historically, one of the most widely acknowledged aspects of American exceptionalism was our lack of class consciousness. Even Marx and Engels recognized it. This was egalitarianism American style. Yes, America had rich people and poor people, but that didn’t mean that the rich were better than anyone else."

Not so much any more:

"The members of the new upper class are seldom attracted to the films, TV shows and music that are most popular in mainstream America. They have a distinctive culture in the food they eat, the way they take care of their health, their child-rearing practices, the vacations they take, the books they read, the websites they visit and their taste in beer. You name it, the new upper class has its own way of doing it.

Another characteristic of the new upper class—and something new under the American sun—is their easy acceptance of being members of an upper class and their condescension toward ordinary Americans. Try using “redneck” in a conversation with your highly educated friends and see if it triggers any of the nervousness that accompanies other ethnic slurs. Refer to “flyover country” and consider the implications when no one asks, “What does that mean?” Or I can send you to chat with a friend in Washington, D.C., who bought a weekend place in West Virginia. He will tell you about the contempt for his new neighbors that he has encountered in the elite precincts of the nation’s capital."

And the reaction from those outside the new upper class? In short, The Donald! Yes, Trump is the embodiment of a visceral reaction by the rest of the country:

"For its part, mainstream America is fully aware of this condescension and contempt and is understandably irritated by it. American egalitarianism is on its last legs."

Murray goes on to review similar treatment of each of the constituent threads of the American Creed with equal care and concludes that while all is not lost yet, we are rapidly on the way to becoming just another nation among many, totally detached from our historic soul. That country will not the place of my birth and my heritage.

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