Time Is Not On Our Side
Maybe it’s my my age. Maybe I am just cranky but do things seem to be going downhill at an alarmingly fast pace?
We should be coming out of the Pandemic cocoon with smiles on our faces and the wind at our backs. Restrictions are lifting, people are getting back to work, kids are acting more like kids (sort of) and we are taking more control of our own narrative. This is all good and I am, at heart, an optimist but I just can’t ignore the slippage in society.
Almost everyone learns right and wrong from three places: Home, School and Church. Morals, principles, knowing right from wrong is ingrained from any combination of the three. Parents teach their children their Golden Rules. School enforce and reenforce certain rules as far as discipline and how to treat each other. Churches are supposed to teach a faith based foundation of morals and principles. Together, children learn what is right and what is wrong. Respect, empathy, compassion and a litany of other foundational structures are taught and reinforced in any and all environments. This is how a successful society propagates itself. Rules, laws, morals are all met and followed.
So why are things sliding towards a societal breakdown? Is it the breakdown of the family unit? Is it too much access too much information? Is it peoples loss of respect for the rule of law? I think it’s probably all of those things and a lot more.
If you look historically, recessions and times of economic upheaval typically produce higher crime rates. While it is very wrong, it is understandable. People will do what they have to do to survive and that will sometimes include committing crimes. To listen to a majority of news organizations, this is the root cause of the increase in crime that we are seeing now. They are almost apologetic when it comes to increased gun violence, total disregard for society and the lack of respect for any law enforcement organization. These people are frustrated and that frustration leads to increased violence. Huh? Why? Frustrated? There are over five million jobs that are begging to be filled. It isn’t a problem of finding work and trying to feed ones family. Then what is it? I am no social scientist but it appears to me that the uptick in all crimes is directly related with a portion of society’s view of law and law enforcement.
When liberal, yes, I am laying this in their laps, policymakers relax or curtail enforcement of the most elemental rules of law, criminals will push those lax enforcements as far as they can. In New York, bail reform is to blame for a majority of the “minor” incidents in crime. These recidivists have no issue with continuing the arc of crime they are on. There is no reform and with little or no punishment, they continue.
While the “broken Windows” policies of the past seemed to be very effective, they were deemed racist and the more progressive leaders in this country did away with them and the results, as expected, were rising crime rates. The police did what they were allowed to do and did their best but if leadership doesn’t have your back, you will eventually fail. I am not oblivious to the abuses of law enforcement over the years. Is it a systemic racist problem? Possibly and I do think it should be addressed but defunding police departments and enacting horrible reforms won’t work. Society survives and thrives with structure and the first line for structure is law enforcement. It is a very complex problem and to address it, all voices should be heard but the bottom line is without a respected and well funded police department we will continue to slide to something resembling Venezuela or some other Third World Hell Hole.
Tolerance is something that should be taught as well. I think if people actually practiced some form of tolerance a lot of the societal breakdown we are seeing would slide into oblivion.
Politicians have no tolerance for the other side. There is no cross the aisle negotiation anymore. Our politicians represent us and our politicians are a main cause of division in this country. No matter what part of the political spectrum you land, there just is less and less tolerance for a diverging opinion. As a successful society we can’t operate with such a chasm between sides. The end result is something akin to Civil War. Tolerance however goes a lot deeper than political division. We talk endlessly about racial issues but it has always stemmed from intolerance. Intolerance for a person’s color has been here for ages and while it is getting better, there is still a long way to go.
There are some positive signs however. Tolerance for a person’s sexual preference has moved much faster and while some people still bristle at a persons sexual orientation, more and more people believe, ”to each his own”. Again, we are not there yet as a society but seeing the improvement in LBGTQ relations shows that our society can improve and grow.
So, maybe the country can get out of this slow crumbling of society and come out better for it. Like I said, I am a glass half full kind of man.