Untying the Ties That Bind Us

Whether Al Franken realizes it or not (bet on not), his resignation speech epitomizes the moral rot that is eating at the foundations of our nation. A lampooning of Franken’s self-serving remarks displayed on the cover of Friday’s New York Post said it all: “I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m leaving.”

How did we become a nation where blaming everyone but oneself for one’s problems can reasonably be labeled as “quintessentially American?” How did we manage to convince ourselves that right and wrong are individualized — and negotiable — concepts? Beginning with the so-called revolution of the ‘60s, we abandoned the sacred in favor of the profane.

Columnist David P. Goldman defines sacred as “that which endures beyond our lifetime and beyond the lifetime of our children, the enduring characteristics that make us unique and will continue to distinguish us from the other peoples of the world, and which cannot be violated without destroying our sense of who we are.” He asserts, “The sacred is what a country’s soldiers are willing to die to protect; unless there is something for which we are willing to die, we will find nothing for which we are willing to live.”

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