From the early days of America’s Founding through the World War II and Korean War generations, most Americans understood that sacrifice and suffering were necessary for attaining laudable goals, whether personally, politically, or societally. But sometime after the 1960s, Americans began to glorify selfishness as a virtue and demand comfort and convenience as rights. If we are going to save and restore our country, we must reverse that pernicious way of thinking.
Today in the Catholic Church is the feast of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (d.1716), a priest most famous for explaining and advocating devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary as the shortest way to union with Jesus Christ, since who is closer to a son than his mother? But one quote which I think applies to all Jews and Christians was Louis’s admonition: “Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer… Turn everything to profit as the grocer does in his shop.” Americans have forgotten how to suffer well.
When America was born 250 years ago, members of the Founding generation were willing to stake their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to champion liberty and establish a new nation. The pioneers who spread across the continent made a way of life out of trial, tragedy, and struggle against foes both human and non-human. During the Civil War, both those fighting for and against freedom, those who were in the wrong and those who were in the right, were willing to sacrifice everything for what they believed. Abolitionists and civil rights advocates put their lives at risk on a daily basis. Up through the “greatest generation” of WWII, Americans were still proud to sacrifice for patriotic causes.
For nearly two centuries, Americans distinguished themselves in each generation for their heroism in warfare, their dedication to building better lives for themselves and their children, and their individualistic independence. That was how our nation became the greatest in the world.
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There are, of course, many reasons why the American spirit changed so much in the last three generations. The seeds were already there. There have always been tyrants and leeches and habitual victims in America, particularly in the Democrat Party. And Franklin Roosevelt began the process of destroying Americans’ resistance to government overreach and to reliance on government handouts in the 1930s. I believe socialist and leftist politics contributed to the moral corruption, including Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society.” Democrat politicians set out to undermine the family and encourage Americans to demand redistribution of wealth and government regulation in every sector, and it was all too successful.
The increasing irreligiosity of Americans — especially young people — is also a major factor. Multiple Founding Fathers, including John Adams and George Washington, warned that without religion restraining human passions, the American Constitution would be destroyed. The Sexual Revolution, the alliance of too many Christian leaders in America with woke politics, and the secularization of education and society as a whole all played a role. And of course, the socialists in the education system deliberately tried to undermine Judeo-Christian religion and encourage immorality.
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Leftists are particularly guilty in America of demanding other people‘s money, claiming that any slight emotional or physical discomfort they experience is a crime, and insisting institutions and societal norms must change to accommodate their feelings. But even many conservatives are too forgiving of government welfare, overindulgence of children, and an unhealthy obsession with self-esteem. Such a way of thinking is not only destructive for our country but also for individuals, since it makes relationships more difficult and does not prepare people to face the pains and disappointments they will inevitably experience in their lives.
Until and unless America stops glorifying self-esteem and selfishness and returns to a proper understanding of suffering and sacrifice for the good and true, our country will continue to self-destruct.
