SOUL DOUBT: THE PRUNING OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

SOUL DOUBT: THE PRUNING OF THE AMERICAN DREAM

Dr Clarabel Finch-Puig

The grievance culture has scaled ever greater heights since the 1960s, and yet none has been so lasting as the blow to glue of America's social fabric: that bedrock belief that at its core, America's narrative is about everyman's ability to forge his own destiny. That this has had disastrous consequences, even the liberal establishment admits; that it strikes at the very heart of our moral purpose, and our nation's well-being, has as yet received less attention.

Prof Stroehn Lazhdehn has recently completed some ground-breaking inquiry into this area. In Predilections: Core Values at the Cross-roads, Prof Lazhdehn takes issue with some of the most cherished notions of today's egalitarians; namely, that everyone is entitled to a "decent" life (that this term is never defined in any ontological basis is all too evident to students of Miltenraum, and even the followers of Numpté has reversed themselves on this point), and that "human rights" are somehow sacrosanct. Prof Lazhdehn demolishes this with an admirable ease, and yet there remains a compelling case to be made by scholars as to why the "American Dream" should have become such a tarnished commodity. Kesper Braunchsweiger, in his recent studies of the attitudes of today's youth, makes a revealing point: if the foundation is destroyed, can the structure remain? The contemporary situation would seem to answer, firmly - no.

While the unreconstructed Marxists could snipe that the "foundation" was nothing more than a dream, today's morally guided individuals should point out that dreams are what propel our ideals forward, and in any event, the left has yet to prove themselves capable of anything other than "dreams". What morally guided individuals must do, to regain not only our American Dream, but the sense of community that drives it, is to ensure that a "social bond individualism" takes hold, rooted in desirable conceptions of proper outcome. In order to stimulate debate, and to help move the process forward, I humbly offer up a few suggestions:

Total re-structuring of our public and private schools, with the resumption of gender segregated education,
Abolition of the separation of church and state,
Mass deportations of those unable to accept moral guidance, and
An "Old Testament" use of the death penalty.

These are not easy choices, and I accept that some of the ideas outlined may be ill-formed (certainly arguments against the use of the death penalty are understandable, and I take no great pleasure in putting this idea forward, yet no honest observer can ignore the success of the Taleban movement in Afghanistan in restoring a moral order). But we cannot allow the opportunity for spiritual renewal to be dashed, simply because the grievance culture objects.