Although these programs didn't always perfectly exemplify biblical standards, they weren't immoral or suggestive. Growing up in a small town in southern Texas, I well remember the sitcoms of the 1950s: Ozzie and Harriet, Father Knows Best, I Married Joan, My Little Margie. Would they be full of praise for our national conduct? Are they pleased with what passes for entertainment on television during the evening of their lives? Would they not think that what's really wrong with the nation is its steep moral decline over the last half century? If young and middle-aged Americans were to ask the country's "greatest generation" of World War II what they thought of our current cultural behavior, what would the answer be? Ask your father, and he will show you your elders, and they will tell you" (Deuteronomy 32:7, emphasis added throughout). It reaches down through the generations and suggests meaningful comparisons with the past: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. The biblical "song of Moses" also invites historical perspective. The long struggle in Vietnam ended in a desperate retreat from Saigon by helicopter."Ĭomparisons with recent history can be very instructive, but we should not ignore ancient times. Both the president and vice president resigned from office. Prices were rising, and so was unemployment. We seemed to be running out of everything: oil, beef, even toilet paper. The article goes on to compare the country's plight today with its tumultuous national picture in the 1970s: "Americans were shocked by the '70s. And many more Americans fear the loss of their jobs" (Thomas Hine, "How to Tackle America's Familiar Funk," Jan. Millions of homeowners are in danger of losing their houses to foreclosure. The president's popularity hovers near record lows over a deeply unpopular war. It laments: "In poll after poll, two-thirds or more of Americans say the country is on the wrong track. A recent article in USA Today captures the essence of present discontent in the United States.
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