One often hears about how far America has fallen — cultural devolution; the unraveling of morality; the precipitous decline in standards of education, law enforcement, and patriotism; the coarseness of public discourse and decorum; the irrelevance and apathy of the modern Church; and so on.
Indeed, it is grievously obvious that America is in a dark, degrading, dangerous pit. But I suggest that the nation hasn’t as much fallen into that pit as we have been intentionally pushed. And, far greater a tragedy, our fate has less often involved stumbling or being shoved into that pit than it has a knowing, volitional leap into it.