The sun begins to set on another great civilization

If there is one thing that is becoming increasingly clear in this season of election year politics and financial catastrophe it is this: the Great American Experiment is rapidly drawing to a close. Representative democracy was a nice idea on paper, and we made a pretty good run of it, but ultimately it seems to be unsustainable.

Its basic flaw has become obvious – it invests too much trust in human nature. The individuals who drew up the plans for our form of government were a unique collection of intelligent, self-sacrificing souls who sought to create a nation that would encourage all its citizens to live and work as they saw fit without interference from their government. They had witnessed firsthand how the human spirit is constricted and deformed by an all-powerful, self-serving form of government and they wanted to show the world a better way.

I believe they would have been astounded by how well their plan succeeded. People have been flocking to our shores for over 200 years because it’s hard to keep it a secret when you create a place where people can build a good life for themselves by the sweat of their brow and even worship God in whatever manner they choose without fear of getting their head chopped off. Most of us don’t appreciate how unusual that opportunity is, but few people who have lived on this earth have ever experienced it in the abundance that we have.

And now, I fear, we are members of the generation that will see that dream come to an end. For some time we have demanded that our government provide us with a cure for all our ills, and anyone who advanced a claim that he could cure those ills was rewarded with a plush seat in the halls of power. The price for those cures has proven to be much too steep, but we have long since abandoned the long view in these matters.

People weren’t saving enough for retirement, so the government created a mandatory retirement program. Older Americans and the poor could not afford health care, so the government created a mandatory health care program to take care of them. They also created programs to “fix” the education system, the environment, the housing industry, and on and on. Billions of dollars (much of it financed with deficit spending) is spent each year to solve every crisis, and every new crisis (the War on Terror, hurricane relief, big business “bailouts”) demands a new solution and more money that we don’t account for.

Watching the presidential and vice presidential debates is severely distressing for anyone who believes that our biggest problem is our own failure to shoulder sacrifices and accept responsibility for our shortcomings. The Democrats proudly carry the standard of government in the role of a compassionate Big Brother and the Republicans give lip service to their long-dormant principles of small government even as their actions brand them as hypocrites. (Note how quickly the GOP’s principled stand on the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry crumbled as another $100 billion in pork was added to buy enough votes to pass. Of course it worked. It always does.)

No matter who wins the election in November, the course of the nation is already set. The government will continue to try and spend its way into our hearts until the deficit falls over and collapses on top of us. At that point the consequences of our collective irresponsibility will begin to dawn on many more people, but there won’t be much we can do about it then except to take our place next to other great civilizations that have collapsed after rotting from the inside.