Barbarians at the Gates

This week's question from Homespun bloggers comes from Bill's Big Bloviating Blog. The question is "What, in your mind, represents the single greatest long-term threat to the United States of America, and what should be done about it?"

The single greatest threat to the United States is the corruption of our ideals. Moral relativism makes it extremely difficult to argue against things like terrorism. "Oh", say the moral relativists, "from their point of view, blowing up that bus full of civilians was justified." Moral relativism has become the ultimate goal. It has replaced, for some, any sense of right and wrong. In fact, it becomes the measure of right and wrong. Now, the "right" view is the one that rejects "old-fashioned" ideas of right and wrong. And anyone who holds to those ideals is wrong, dangerous, a radical. Or a bigoted redneck. Or a brainless idiot on the intellectual level with paramecium. Take your pick.

My favorite poem of all time is Rudyard Kipling's "The Gods of the Copybook Headings". With what I regard as amazing prescience, Kipling attacks the "religions" of pacifism, sexual revolution, and socialism/entitlement. My fear for this country is that we're heading into a moral morass which will rob us of our will to defend ourselves. And, to quote the last bit of Kipling,

"And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return."

What do we do about this? It seems that the forces that are pushing us toward relativism are well organized. They're in our schools. They're lobbying Washington. They're holding protests and rallies. Do we organize? Do we fight protest with protest? Can we even protest if we're in the majority (as I think people generally don't ascribe to views of moral relativism)?

I don't know. But I think talking about it (both here and in realspace) is a good place to start.

Read the other answers listed here. Lots of great thoughts on this question.