Personal Character and National Destiny

Book excerpt: A nation's destiny is not the result of arbitrary fate but the inevitable consequence of the values to which its people subscribe. Attitudes with regard to personal excellence, individual accomplishment, and self-control predict national periods of rise, ascendancy, and decline.The people who flocked to America's shores between 1620 and 1900 weren't looking for a handout. All they wanted was the liberty to do the best they could with their lives. It was given to them, and they turned the U. S. into a land of promise.A people's values are evident in the literature they create. The most popular works of 150 years ago were filled with stories of self-reliance, faith, honesty, perseverance, and victorious achievement. The modern media, by contrast, careens from one "crisis" to the next, with an emphasis on helplessness and victimization. Government expands its following by offering to "help" the citizen with things that he ought to be dealing with himself.The old emphasis on self-reliance made America great. Will the modern emphasis on dependency destroy us?