- Hosea 8:7
Consequences. Wonderful things, consequences. Part of God's plan, without them, we have no ability to learn. Unfortunately, we have, right here and now in the United States, done the best we can to remove consequences from our lives. If there is anything that brings down the American Experiment and reduces us to a second rate nation, this will be the thing that does it.
Our largest and most important manufacturing business, the auto industry, has spent decades living large and looking out only for themselves - management and unions both. The product, and the customer they sold it to, were always way down on the priority list. They assumed that no matter what they did, American buyers would purchase their products, having no choice to do otherwise. And for a long time this was true, which kept them from seeing that once people had a choice to go elsewhere, they would, in droves. The US auto industry was an empty shell, ready to fall over with the slightest push, and the recession has more than provided the push. Having created a perfect storm of consequences by their previous choices, they now run towards a shelter constructed of taxpayer dollars rather than pay the cost for their past choices.
We've paid poor people to stay home and have children out of wedlock for generations, rewarding the worst arrangement possible for bringing up the next generation of American kids, and then rather than try to address the problems - mainly moral problems - we throw money at the symptoms.
States and cities in some parts of the country tax business owners into the poor house and then get bent out of shape when the productive people leave and go somewhere else, leaving only the open mouths and hands of the non-self-sufficient behind. And what happens after this? Usually tax increases on the unfortunates left behind. What consequences?
We built an entire housing and financial industry around the concept of lending money to people who had no business borrowing. Of course they were going to default on those loans and mortgages - could we have expected anything else? But it's no problem - the taxpayers are good for it.
We looked the other way while Microsoft used illegal monopoly behavior and playground bully marketing, and now the world's standard PC operating system and web browser are inferior products that host a wide variety of infectious security pathogens and deliver second rate functionality, security and stability. Yet we still buy their products.
For two generations we've allowed radicals to fundamentally change the way our society views religion and morality, removing the cultural frameworks that held America together for 200 years, expecting that social programs, laws and welfare could control people's behavior and promote right actions. Instead, the trust and ethics that are part of the Judeo-Christian culture are almost driven out of our society, with predictable results.
I could go on, but won't.
Ignoring small consequences allows the problem to continue, with larger consequences to follow. So have we reached the Day of Reckoning, or is there an even bigger one ahead?
Update: how about some links?
- Belmont Club on the mortgage issue and the cultural decline and voluntary depopulation of the West.
- The Truth About Cars on the self-destruction of GM.
- Consumerist has an article full of links on the recent credit card rule changes. This one contains a shocking comment from an industry spokesperson: "Pulling credit at a time when job losses are increasing by over 50 percent year on year in most key states is a dangerous and unprecedented combination." I'm sorry, but WHAT? How is unemployed people running up their credit card debt a good thing? I guess they're all planning on a bailout for them, too. Where's mine? Bonus quote: "We view the credit card as the second key source of consumer liquidity, the first being their jobs". Ever heard of savings?
- Finally, a post from Dr. Bob that takes on the culture. Here's a key section, to close with some hope.
The revolution which started in the 60s with the “me” generation is bearing its bitter fruit — though its aging proponents will never admit it. And sadly, there’s no going back: the changes which have infiltrated and infected the culture, inoculated through education, media, entertainment, scientific rationalism, and a relentless and highly successful assault on reason and tradition, are permanent, and their consequences will only grow in magnitude.
So it’s time for a counter-revolution.
There is an alternative to our current cultural narcissism with its corrosive, calloused, destructive bent. It is not a new government program, nor a political movement; no demonstrations in the street, no marches on Washington. Its core ideology is over 2000 years old, and the foot soldiers of the revolution are already widely dispersed throughout the culture.
This revolutionary force is called Christianity, and it’s long past time to raise the banner and spring into action.
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