The United States of America is the superpower of the world. Attached to this title comes great wealth, knowledge, and respect. Indeed, we as a nation in America are wealthy, intelligent, and revered. There is a problem with all of this, however. America is less prized by the world then it was 50, 25, 10, even three years ago. With the lowering level of respect for America and obvious incline of war, we are in a tight spot. We need to fix this; it is easy to do and can virtually all be accomplished at home.
Social Unity
War is very prevalent and it is building in frequency. Since 1860 there have been over 100 wars and over 200,000,000 casualties with World War Two claiming more than 55,000,000. Even with World War Two holding 25% of the soldier's blood, more than 100 of the wars in the 20th century are “major wars.” A war must have at least 6,000 deaths to be considered a “major war.”
To put these figures into perspective, let us consider the media. Shakespeare wrote the history plays which challenge our views on not only the leaders of society, but the people in the wars being fought. Hollywood has made many films, most prominently “Saving Private Ryan,” which approach war from the point of view of the warrior. There are countless media which take a character in any war, makes them real with mind, human fallibility, and emotion. These characters are designed to cause us pause. They are designed to make the observer feel for the hero as their own kin or even think of themselves in the position of the character. Now think of every one of the 200,000,000 casualties not as mere events of misfortune, but husbands, sons, and fathers. These men die leaving behind innocent women, children, parents, siblings, and even communities in bitter tears with no release for a righteous rage which results in failing hearts. As one heart fails, the hearts around it almost inevitably fail also.
When these hearts fail, the community fails; when the communities fail, the country fails. How, then, do we fix this tremendous problem? Perhaps a brief look into the past will help amazingly. While Thomas Jefferson was fighting for the freedom of America and already observing the seedlings of a civil war, he was able to keep those around him high spirited. This is not because he was funny, able to take time to show the needed love to keep spirits up, nor was he a soothsayer. Thomas Jefferson and virtually all the people in his community believed in a God and consistently read the Bible.
Somewhere between 1940 and 1960, something changed. America, almost as a whole, stopped reading the Bible, Koran, and other religious materials. America stopped being open about its beliefs, and ultimately, Americans stopped being united in the heart. When people were no longer united in the heart, as a large scale web of emotional support, hearts became singular and estranged from others. As a result of this lack of supporting love for one another, Americans are much more likely to be struck with overwhelming depression and their heart fails causing America to fail one person at a time. If this is the cause, then the solution is simple. Read the materials in the main cannon of your religion, discuss them with your children, parents, friends, and your God in prayer coupled with meditation. Become an emotional support for your neighbors always willing to help. Become the living version of State-Farm's catch phrase “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Become the good neighbor.
As we re-build the spiderweb of emotional support that helped in making America great, we can once again become the indestructible superpower we proved ourselves to be before 1960. As America recovers the fading title, we will have more work to do, we will have to educate our children.
Education
America, along with being a military superpower, has also been reverenced as the intellectual playground of the world; just as Rome, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Germany, England, and China have been in their times. The Mayan Empire lasting over 1,000 years, Byzantine Empire lasting over 900 years, and the Holy Roman Empire lasting over 800 years all put America at its current rate of decline to utter shame.
John Quincy Adams is quoted in saying “Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.” Thomas Jefferson points out that this country can only remain in power by holding true to the “eight ancient principles” taught by Jethro to his son-in-law Moses and which were observed by the Anglo Saxons as laid out by Vikings. Seeing all the unconstitutional laws being passed in our day (remembering the constitution holds and guards the “eight ancient principles” spoken of by Thomas Jefferson) and our passivity about it all (which goes against John Quincy Adams' remarks on hard work for the preserving of our freedoms), we must realize that action must take place to pull ourselves back up. This requires the education of ourselves, posterity, and living ancestors.
