THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 294, November 9, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
HOW AMERICA HAS CHANGED
By Alan Caruba
THE NEW GENERATION OF AMERICANS WHO HELPED ELECT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA AS THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE
U.S.A. -- CHANGES THAT HAVE OCCURRED IN AMERICAN SOCIETY & ITS CULTURE: DECLINE IN THE TRADITIONAL
AMERICAN FAMILY & ITS MORAL VALUES -- EMERGENCE OF A GENERATION OF YOUNGER VOTERS WHO HAVE BEEN
SUBJECT TO POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS & LEFT WITH LITTLE ACCURATE KNOWLEDGE OF
HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, & CIVICS
FULL STORY:
Many of those who helped elect Barack Hussein Obama as the next President of the U.S.A. represent a very different
generation of Americans from earlier ones. They have passed through the politically correct indoctrination of schools
controlled by government and the teachers' unions and have little accurate knowledge of history, geography, or civics
with which to make informed judgments. They are more the product of the mainstream media and popular culture than
any previous generation.
The struggle for civil rights dominated the 1960s. The Watergate scandal marked the 1970s, and the nation experienced
its first serious military defeat after a protracted war in Vietnam. The rise of the Islamic Revolution began in 1979 and
continued through the 1980s and 1990s, until it led to the 9-11 Islamist terror attack on the U.S.A. in 2001. The American
nation has been engaged militarily in the Middle East ever since. Events alter perceptions.
Here are some of the ways that America has changed since the 1960s:
The nuclear family — mother, father and children — is no longer the most common household type. It was in 1960, but,
today, the nuclear family ranks third among alternative types of households, behind married couples without children at
home (mostly older, empty-nesters) and people living alone (also among the growing demographic of older Americans.)
Divorce and out-of-wedlock births have caused the number of single parents to increase dramatically. Abortion ends
24% of pregnancies these days.
Most children have working mothers. In America today, 69% of married mothers work. The result is that most pre-school
children are in daycare programs being raised and cared for by people other than their parents.
Only 16% of Americans think that our nation’s schools are doing a good job. To put it another way, 84% think schools
are failing in their mission to educate today’s children. There are ample statistics to demonstrate this. For example, only
39% of white students in fourth grade were reading at or above their grade level in 2005. Among black students, it was
only 12%. Asian American students, however, scored at 40%. Educators tell me that today’s schools are virtual zoos
requiring all manner of monitoring of disruptive students. Fear rules the halls of too many schools, both inner city and
suburban.
The median household income peaked in 1999, after some forty years of rising incomes. Between 1967 and 2006, the
median household income grow by 32%, after adjusting for inflation, to $48,201. The average American household makes
$1,000 less than it did a few years ago. The earning power of men peaked in 1989. Between 1967 and 2006, the median
earnings of women who worked full-time grew by 53%. Together, those incomes allowed families to buy houses, SUVs,
and other top dollar items. Americans have been on a credit spree, however. The median debt of average American
households is $55,300!
The Social Security Trust Fund will exhaust its surplus in 2041. Nine out of ten people aged 65 years or older receive a
Social Security check each month. It accounts for 40% of their income.
In a recent issue of Budget & Tax News, published by The Heartland Institute, an article noted:
“Federal regulations cost Americans almost as much as
the income tax and more than 40 percent of all federal
spending…. Federal environmental, safety, health, and
economic regulations cost more than $1 trillion a year
in addition to the costs of official federal spending.”
These costs are passed along to consumers.
Fully 63% of Americans believe in God and have no doubts about it, but 57% believe that it is not necessary to believe in
God to be a moral person with good values.
According to the 2000 Census, America was home to 63 distinct racial groups, but it was the first census in which
individuals could identify themselves as belonging to more than one such group, i.e., were multiracial. Whites constituted
211 million people. Blacks were 14% of the population and represented 25% of those living in poverty, but non-Hispanic
whites represented 44%. Blacks constitute 41 million Americans and are outnumbered five to one by whites.
Despite the failure of some sub-prime mortgages, fully 68% of households own a home. The Great Depression caused
such losses that the government created the Federal Housing Administration and a new system of financing, the 30-year,
fixed rate mortgage. By 1950, the home ownership rate had climbed to 55%. Allowing people to buy homes with no money
down and without a reasonable expectation of paying their monthly mortgage has proven to be a very bad idea.
If you were born in 1901, life expectancy was 47 years. By 2006, average life expectancy was 78! The leading cause of death
in America is heart disease. More than two million Americans die of this cause every year.
Antonio Gramsci, a dedicated Communist, wrote a book setting out a strategy for taking over strong Western democracies
by infiltrating their churches and educational system, as well as a nation’s media. Communism could be imposed by
turning churches into ideologically-driven political clubs. Educational systems had to be dumbed down and offer a
politically correct curriculum. Mass media had to discredit traditional institutions such as marriage and commonly shared
moral values.
If any of this looks like America today, consider yourself warned.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Marriage, Family, & Society in the U.S.A.
Morality, Decency, & Traditional American Family Values
Human Reproduction, Demographics, & Population Policy in the U.S.A.
United States Immigration, Assimilation, & National Security Policy:
Immigration into the U.S.A., Legal & Illegal Aliens,
& U.S. Border Control
Education, Training, & America's Schools:
Institutions of Elementary, Secondary, & Higher Education
The American Nation & Its Common National Culture:
Political Culture, Patriotism, & American National Identity:
The Basic Values, Beliefs, & Traditions Characteristic
of American Society & Its Civic Culture
American Nationhood & American National Sovereighty:
The United States of America as a Single Sovereign Nation-State:
Potecting & Preserving American National Independence,
America's Common National Culture & Identity,
& American National Interests
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s most recent book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press. Books
previously authored by Caruba include A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam, The United Nations Versus the United States: The
UN's Plan to Control Planet Earth, and America: A Nation Without Borders -- A Pocket Guide to Immigration Issues.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity