The Regression of America

Frightening times are ahead and I am not speaking of the economy, I'm speaking of the regression of American values and standards. When I speak of values, I am not referring to Sarah Palin or Pat Buchanan ramming Christianity, conservatism and creationist theories down your throat. I am an atheist. My values come from my internal sense of right and wrong, which is fed by the information I have received and experiences I've had over my lifetime.

There are more honor students in India than there are children in America. Our standards of education, culture and values have been rapidly declining over the past few decades. Look at the number of talentless celebrities in the US. We don't value any accomplishment, I mean Marissa Tomei won a freaking Oscar for Pete's sake! Useless people can become famous for reasons that are beyond my comprehension. How many people reading this know who won the Oscar for Best Actor this year? Now, how many of you know who won the Nobel Prize for Physics? Do any of you even know the Nobel Prize categories?

We have become victims of our own political correctness. A liberal sense of fairness means that everybody has to be "special", which in turn means nobody is special. Your only special if you are set apart from the rest. And no child left behind means that all children are held behind in America. We've accepted mediocrity as a standard so that no one will feel "bad" about themselves. We do not shun stupidity, we put it on prime time TV and laugh at it. Nor to we adequately recognize and award greatness. Some of the greatest minds in our country are relegated to obscurity among the greater population, and if they're lucky, they might get their 15 minutes in a quick cameo on some National Geographic special. So, what is the inspiration for children these days? Where is the healthy sense of competition in academics? I have encouraged all of my children to strive for knowledge. I discuss science and literature with them and while they may not listen (what 12 year old wants to hear about string theory), they understand that being stupid is not an option and they also know that success for them means excelling in areas that most Americans have fallen far behind in - math and science.

Most universities, research and engineering facilities have had to import competent staff from overseas, due to a severe shortage of intelligence in America. Most children have been told that success means one of three options: Finance, Medicine and Law. Where does that leave science? Where does that leave engineering? But more importantly, where does that leave America? If we're not going to be at the forefront of technology, and we've lost most of our manufacturing to cheap overseas labor, we've lost most of our cash crops to corn, so what will we be? We will certainly not be at the forefront, which means we will no longer be a superpower. And that, is a very scary place to be when you think about the countries that are in line to take over the #1 spot (I'll give you a hint, what are most products made in?)