We’re sacrificing future with our actions

During the last 50 years, there has been a concerted effort by certain special interest groups to unravel the age-old fabric of Western civilization of marriage and family.

In studies of civilizations (Gibbon, Spengler, Toynbee, etc.) trends regarding genesis, rise and fall have been illuminated. The historical record of the Roman Empire is especially relevant because of its roots in the development of Western civilization.

A pervasive degradation of self-reliance, vigor and rectitude contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. The borders and provinces became the burden of a mercenary army replacing the citizen legionnaires and the spectacles at the Colosseum became passive entertainment for the populace.

A weak and effete Rome was easy prey for the hardy and virile “barbarians.” The resulting synthesis of fortitude, culture and family values became the framework and patrimony of Western civilization from the fall of Rome to the present day.

Too many of today's representatives of the people place political expediency above probity and the test of historical antecedents, especially in confronting trendy assaults and specious arguments, e.g., protagonist views using the protean term “equal rights” in order to rationalize all manner of heretical views. The future is often sacrificed in favor of current advantage.

It is a categorical imperative and an existential truism that a society is defined by its moral compass, which trumps all other values.

George Black

Iowa City