End of the American Era

The terminal hour is at hand, and America's sun sinks inexorably toward the horizon. National decay has set in since the close of World War II, Cornell professor Hacker argues, because Americans have lost the spirit of sacrifice and sense of discipline on which the power and survival of a nation depend. This frame of mind (asking not what you can do for your country. . . ) reflects technological development more than any other factor. Material self-interest, or at least the demands and rewards of the prosperous American capitalist-corporate system, condition a preoccupation with private concerns rather than public obligations. The rise of self-centeredness is accompanied by an erosion of legitimacy and public controls: challenges to religious authority, traditional morality, male supremacy, and parental control; exposures of racism, poverty, and neglect. Hacker believes that radical activism for social change is a mere surface manifestation, liberalism "a mode of expression for comfortably situated citizens who wish to appear progressive in outlook without having to pay too high a price for their principles." Basically there is no will or desire to effect significant changes in positive response to the stresses of the age; America will suffer disarray, demoralization, and continuing decline. Half-hearted Vietnam-like sorties abroad may continue through the century, but "most Americans can no longer believe that destiny commands them to carry capitalism, Christianity, or the United States Constitution across the globe."