When one studies history regarding the Roman Empire, one of the things that sticks out is that though the barbarians of the north brought down the empire with constant attacks, it was not the barbarians that truly brought down the empire. The internal moral decay and political instability after the representative system crumbled and a tyranny of powerful Caesars took control is what brought down the once great civilization.
The political system often follows the social system, so if the social system begins to follow standards based on relativism or pluralism, where morality is no longer based on a set moral code, but one that follows the whims of each individual person's desires, then how can one expect the political leaders to follow a set standard in the political realm? As morality erodes, corruption sets in, and a greed for power and money becomes more important than the political system the person is supposed to represent.
Though it wasn't a single breakdown in morality that brought down the empire, the combination of them was enough to deteriorate the system to the point that nobody believed in the heartfelt nature of patriotism, and instead became more enthralled with entertaining their own personal pleasures.
According to Alexis de Tocqueville, "When the religion of a people is destroyed, doubt gets hold of the highest portions of the intellect, and half paralyses all the rest of its powers."
History is full of civilizations that lose their will to survive. Attributed to Alexander Tytler, though the authorship is actually unknown, the following gives us perspective:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage.
In Rome, homosexuality had become accepted as a normal part of society, and post-birth abortion, where babies up to two years of age were left on the roadside to die of exposure if the parents were not happy with how the child turned out, was common-place. Debauchery was the norm, and the civilization had dropped into such moral decay that the once great empire was unable to hold up its own pants, much less defend against the constant bombardment of barbarian attacks.
In America, we rose as Tytler indicated, from the bondage of Europe to seek freedom of religion in the New World. Our great courage led us through the Revolutionary War, and to the Constitutional Convention where the United States established liberty. Our nation prospered, giving us abundance, and from that abundance we have become selfish, complacent, and apathetic. Now, under a heavy burden of entitlement programs, we are becoming dependent upon the ruling class, and that opens up the opportunity for the barbarians of statism to chip away until the American System crumbles under the onslaught of tyranny, leading us back into the bondage we escaped over 230 years ago.
A large part of this crumbling from within is linked to the moral depredation of our society.
I offer only a few recent news stories, that portrays the reality of the moral decay of this nation. . .
Ladies of New York, you are free to walk bare-breasted through the city! New York City's 34,000 police officers have been instructed that, should they encounter a woman in public who is shirtless but obeying the law, they should not arrest her. This is a good step towards gender parity in public spaces.
This decision means that breast exposure is not considered public lewdness, indecent exposure, or disorderly conduct. It also notes that, should a crowd form around a topless woman, the officer should instruct the crowd to disperse and then respond appropriately if it does not. Relative coverage is no longer a factor.
This policy shift comes after several years of litigation and protest.
If you thought that our television channels were already saturated with enough sex, vulgarity and profanity, you may want to brace yourself – the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is proposing changes to its guidelines that would allow more racy content to infiltrate the small screen during hours when kids could tune in.
A public notice posted on the regulatory agency’s website last month said that FCC is launching a review that may end the prohibition of expletives and certain images of nudity on television. The FCC had first given the public until May 20 to weigh in on the hot-button issue, but that deadline was recently extended to June 19.
A federal court Tuesday struck down Arizona's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy absent a medical emergency.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law violated a woman's constitutionally protected right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb. "Viability" of a fetus is generally considered to start at 24 weeks. Normal pregnancies run about 40 weeks.
Nine other states have enacted similar bans starting at 20 weeks or even earlier. Several of those bans had previously been placed on hold or struck down by other courts.
----- Boy Scouts Approve Plan to Accept Openly Gay Members
After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over.
The Scouts' longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, and many liberal Scout leaders -- as well as gay-rights groups -- plan to continue pressing for an end to that exclusion even though the BSA's top officials aren't ready for that step.
Meanwhile, many conservatives within the Scouts are distraught at the outcome of the vote and some are threatening to defect.
----- Teacher Fired for Praying in School During Oklahoma Tornado
Friday a teacher working at an Oklahoma school hit hard by a devastating tornado this week was fired after admitting she had prayed out loud during the horrific event, and that a complaint was filed by an atheist family of a kindergarten student who was offended by the Christian prayer.
Paulina Trumble, 52, a twenty three year veteran educator at Briarwood Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma knew she was in trouble the moment the cyclone passed after realizing she had uttered out loud a prayer to the Almighty, violating strict separation of church and state laws.
“In a moment when I believed we were all going to die I naturally sought comfort from the only place I knew,” said Trumble.
“I know prayer is strictly forbidden in classrooms, and the students know that too, but I’m only human and in the face of such terror I did break the rules. I’m sorry if I offended anyone or violated their civil rights.”
The family, who’s name is being kept anonymous for their own protection, filed the complaint with the school through an ACLU attorney even though the teacher was responsible for saving the life of their six year old child.
“Saving the life of my client’s child was Ms. Trumble’s responsibility and is to be expected,” said ACLU attorney Donald Ambulachasky. “Unfortunately, it is also a teacher’s responsibility to keep God out of the classroom and on that count Ms. Trumble failed miserably. It doesn’t matter the circumstances…. the law is the law, and someone must pay.”
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
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