Moral Decline?

Skimmed through Michael Medved’s The Ten Big Lies About America over the weekend. It’s a good book, a culture war book from the conservative, traditionalist perspective. Which is where I am the majority of the time. At least, until conservative, traditionalist thinking comes into conflict with Catholic teaching. But that’s a subject for a different post. I want to talk about the last Big Lie Medved addresses.

As a side note, Medved has a three-hour talk radio show that I’ve been listening to for about a year. I have a love-hate relationship with talk radio. I’ve listened to them all, to varying degrees and for varying lengths of time. Some hosts I can no longer stand; others I am starting to listen to again. But I have to admit it does get tiresome, this constant beating of the drum that the End is Near. These posts, here and here, state more accurately this fatigue with neverending crisis. Someone whose blog I read regularly is of the firm and cynical opinion that it’s actually not about changing the culture, it’s just about selling beer and shampoo. I can see his point.

Anyway, I find Mr. Medved quite refreshing to listen to. He does not shout down opposing views. He’s a Jewish intellectual who is more knowledgeable of – and a greater defender of – Christianity than ninety-nine percent of Christians in the public square. He’s classy, intelligent, and argues in a very Socratic, almost Aquinian way. I enjoy the truly civil discourse. Which is why I picked up his book.

I did not read it cover to cover. But the last chapter intrigued me: America is in the midst of an irreversible moral decline. Obviously, judging from the title of his book, Medved is firmly opposed to this point of view. That surprised me, and I bet it surprised you, too. Here’s Medved’s arguments why we are NOT in an irreversible moral decline.

First of all, it’s well-documented that every generation regards itself as more morally corrupt than previous generations. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, the strengthening and weakening of public morality is cyclical in nature. Medved shows four times in American history that can be seen as periods of revival: the 1730s to the 1750s, 1800 through the 1830s, the 1880s up to the early 1900s, and, surprisingly, the 1970s to the present day. So we’re actually in a period of revival, according to Medved’s reasoning, due in large part to the Religious Right in politics and the growth of evangelical megachurches.

There have been periods in American history going all the way back to colonial days that are comparable to the sense of moral decline we feel nowadays. Out of wedlock births and the consumption of alcohol and incidents of public drunkenness are two factors that have roller-coasted up and down over the course of our country’s lifetime. The dreadful problems of prostitution and immigrants forced into a kind of sexual slavery seen a century ago actually make our time seem positively enlightened.

Even our founding fathers, often held up as the paragons of American citizenhood, are not without flaw. Franklin, a flirt and philanderer with married women and a father of a child out of wedlock. Jefferson and his affairs with married women and at least one slave beginning when she was 13. Hamilton and Burr also had reputations of what might be considered lose sexual mores.

Statistics for abortion, violent crime, and teen suicide actually show a decline in numbers. Based on these indicators alone we appear to be in a “moral upswing.” Good news, and research indicates that the trend is continuing.

However, one of the main contemporary components of this seemingly omnipresent, seemingly certain belief we’re in moral decline is … the media. If you analyze prime time teevee, you’d think loving, stable marriages were the exception, not the rule. The filth coming out of Hollywood and the music our children listen to, particularly rap, reinforce this belief in moral decay. You’d think there were three serial killers on your block and your kids would think it’s okay to beat their girlfriends. Equally guilty are “elite” institutions of higher education (whatever that means). You’ve seen the stories a million times; there’s no need for me to repeat the lunacies of endorsing degenerate behavior seen on hundreds of campuses across the nation.

But there is an element of choice in all this. We can choose what to watch and what to allow our children to watch. We can vote with our dollars. We can actually pick up the phone or turn on the PC and send our congressman feedback. And we can turn off the idiot box once in a while and do something wholesome for our spirit.

It’s not really that bad out there. Don’t get taken in with that lie.