We live in troubled times. How troubled? Consider six trends and historical context. Some news is good, some bad – but the key is preserving our ability to correct what ails us. Without that, we will flounder.
First, death from wars. We are doing better. Wars are down. War-related deaths fell sharply after World War II, and while “peace” has not broken out, we do have more of it.
World War II killed up to 56 million in four years, perhaps 28 million more from disease, and starvation. Those are stunning numbers to type or read, population of the US in 1900 (76 million), of the entire human race 1000 years Before Christ (BC).
World War I left 20 million dead, and nine million wounded – horrifying numbers, hard to process. “Twenty million” is seven zeros. If an NFL stadium holds 60,000 souls, that is 333 stadiums of humanity gone.
In 1950, the first year of the Korean War, the conflict killed 550,676. In 1951, the war took 395,817 lives. Vietnam’s height, 1972, saw 299,083 dead. After a troth, the war took 249,266 in 1984, mostly in the Mideast. Since then, we have done better, down to 12,000 in the decades after, only hitting 83,668 in 2014, and 204,009 in 2022, driven by African conflicts.
US military deaths, despite conflict, also dropped. Of the top ten wars in American history, Afghanistan –2001 to 2021 – ranks ninth in deaths, 1,833. That said, thousands were wounded and 100,000 US allies, many with special visas and promised safety in the US for helping us, were abandoned to die at Taliban hands by Biden.
Is there a flip side? Yes, two caveats: We are only protected by deterrence, which is sliding. The minute we think we are safe, we are unsafe. Caveat Two: Invisible combat, information warfare, cyberwar, unrestricted warfare, all conducted through hacks, false flags, misinformation, misdirection, AI, public corruption, swarming our border, insertion of ideological conflict, terror cells, and drugs.
Net-net, we are better off in real terms, when it comes to war dead, but with footnotes.
Second, material prosperity is high – despite fiscally irresponsible leaders, inflation, volatility, overregulation, high interest (to combat inflation), and distortion of free markets, supply-and-demand.
One data point shows promise: “After accounting for all income, philanthropy, and noncash welfare benefits, the bottom 20 percent of Americans have a higher level of material consumption than all citizens in most rich countries,” and “from 1990 to 2015, consumption per capita in America increased by 65 percent….”
So, with that good news to start, what about the rest? How about spiritual grounding, self-reliance, education, public corruption, trust in leaders, principles, and the rule of law? Not so good.
The third issue, spirituality. Numbers are not encouraging. Those who regularly attend church have dropped from 73 to 47 percent since 1940, and 70 to 40 since 2000.
Fourth, self-reliance: We seem to be giving up it, that is, on ourselves – or so the media would like us to believe – determined to become dependent on the government. Not good.
Fifth, education. Where do you start? Everywhere, schools are failing, teachers are pressed not to allow independent thought, critical thinking, originality, questions, and wonder, instead pushing mediocrity, excuses, non-performance, non-accountability, and leftist political ideas.
But … stop. Look deeper – and take some hope. There are counterpoints.
On faith … if church attendance is down, 81 percent of Americans say they have faith – mostly Christian – or see themselves as “spiritual,” believing the physical is not the end. This in turn – while not good for churches – suggests human conscience at work.
On self-reliance … The Millennial Generation, less trustful of traditions that defined, inspired, and protected their grandparents, are entrepreneurial, independent, and distrust government. Like old-school traditionalists, they want to set their own sails.
On education… we could write novels. For all the failures, a new wind blows. Growth in homeschooling, private and online schools, and distrust of leftist school boards, superintendents, and unions are hopeful. More objectivity and parent input too.
So, at last, the “big kahuna” – public corruption, trust in leaders, principles, and rule of law. These are the crux. In a free republic, we fix mistakes, but if we lose the ability to do so, we are lost.
So, are we lost? Not yet, but we have a White House intent on holding power, demonizing critics, transparently corrupt – now covering felonies by arresting sources of proof, FBI informants.
We have several disgraced prosecutors trying to stop a popular Republican presidential candidate, abusing their power – in an era when Russia’s president, by inference, just killed his top opponent.
We have an alarmingly vacant president, disrespecting Supreme Court rulings on gun rights and abortion, student loans and overregulation, unwilling even to protect the sitting Justices.
In short, and most troubling, we are growing untrustful – of everything. We need to get that back, as soon as possible. Without trust in the freedom and ability to correct our problems, what have we? Not much. Do we live in troubled times? Yes? Can we self-correct? Yes.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
I generally agree with your last paragraph. We can still turn things around, IF, and only if, the American people are truly committed to it for the long haul (several years, if not decades to reverse the slide). It won’t be easy or quick because we have to overcome over 50 years of conditioning by the media and a number of institutions to simply not think for ourselves or critically question what we are being told by those in power. However, if the American people actually choose to stand up for themselves and fight for their rights and freedoms on a continuous basis, instead of simply wringing their hands and saying woe is me, it can be done.
Just on a side note regarding the death from wars part of your article. One of the major reasons for the drop-off in deaths since World War 1 to today is due to largely how wars are actually fought. WWI was essentially trench warfare, mustard gas, limited technology in terms of armaments, and no real large-scale field triage of wounded and injured on the front lines. Civilian casualties, as you point out, were wide-spread. It was essentially a slaughterhouse and meat grinder war of attrition.
WWII was more mechanized, but still entailed numerous engagements where large number of ground forces on both sides went head-to-head on the battlefield in both Europe and the Pacific. Fast forward to the last 30 years and how we now fight wars has evolved. Precision ordinance and advanced technology have allowed us to drastically reduce death counts on the battlefield and advances in medicine have meant far more soldiers are likely to survive what would have been certain fatality even going to the Vietnam era. More deaths could have been avoided if those in command opted to use manned ground forces as the last resort instead of the tip of the spear against the enemies we faced in that timeframe. We also no longer fight wars to actually win, which is of course a political decision. That political mindset just serves to lengthen the duration of modern wars unnecessarily and cause more deaths and injuries on our side.
Nope. America has short term memory. Example: after 9-11, the slogan was “Never Forget” but now it’s “No Human is Illegal”. Ppl traveling have to take off their shoes and carry less then 12oz of shampoo while 8.8 million ppl without ID walk across our borders and are released with $1000/month ATM government pay cards.
The more self reliant people are the better the situation all around . That is part of the foundation of what the Conservative outlook is about. We need to self – correct , for sure, there really is not much choice in the matter ,it depends on the circumstances , the various issues involved ,but the respect for the individual and for independence are in the balance .Well done with this article Robert The matters of faith and trust bring forth the spirit that is vital to intellectual activity needed in dealing with the challenges faced .With good character , and a sense of purpose , with a code of conduct to guide through the storms that arise , a positive, optimistic cycle can be hoped for .Strength ,courage wisdom and understanding all connect . Faith in God, respect for all that is good and right. A sense of responsibility will help too. Along with a sense of humor and the sense of adventure to set things right in the world — the course is set for noble, honorable achievements.
From what ive read for the most part, large scale wars weren’t the situation from around 1865-1914 either here or in europe. The people living in the period 1890-1914 were full of optimism that technology was leading to a permanent golden age. Then…the horrors of ww1. This scalded the souls of France and England. We have the potential for war on a scale never seen. And we have obvious incompetents leading us. I see terrible danger.
Dear Mr. Charles and PaulE. I shall miss you both very much. And Tammy Bruce who just started writing for your organization plus all the other writers. You always tell the truth, are the true patriots in this country and write about the things I feel are so important in this country. You are so correct in that I have lost all trust in the IT department at AMAC and I need to stop my membership. I have written to them and told them what I believe and they have chosen to ignore me totally and have refused in the past to stand up for me against xfinity when they kept throwing me off. I think the world of all you have said here and other times Mr, Charles. I wish all of you the best of tmes to come and I shall continue praying for AMAC and this country. blessings, Carol
well written
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was great. I don’t know who you are but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
It’s not necessarily good to be distrustful, but it is good to be skeptical until proof is offered. As to self reliance, where I live, in a rural area, there are many preppers and people living off grid. I feel sorry for city folks who haven’t a clue how to survive.
“consumption per capita in America increased by 65 percent” ”
A balloon is always biggest right before it pops.
“We” have never been endangered. Our losses during ALL of the 20th century conflicts have been in conflicts in which our involvement served the financial interests of the usual select few “elite”. We jumped into WW1 when the conflict was already where it ended, a mindless stalemate with a HUGE number of losses caused by disease. We did get a seat at the worlds big boy table but we also built a path directly toward WW2. Did we leap into that conflict out of a sense of promoting democracy and freedom? If so then please explain the McCullom Memorandum.Our involvement in WW2 again when the outcome had pretty much already been decided (so of course we immediately began erasing most of the history of the Soviet involvement in that war). Korea? God knows what the heck we were thinking there and the same for the very lengthy Viet Nam conflict. We did however managed to establish military bases all across Asia while ever bemoaning China for their “adventurism”,,never explaining how protecting ones own shores can be considered “adventurism”.
Then as the 21st Century came about we just had to initiate the coup de gras against Iraq for………Colin Powell holding up a vial of probably corn starch while proclaiming it proof Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction”, Lies of course, that is what the US does best. Afghanistan? Well that 20 year conflict was for…………no clue but it did lead to yet another loss. Losing is all we have done since our coattail involvement in WW2.
Now we have gotten our asses handed to us by Russia in our proxy war against them in Ukraine. Who cares if Ukraine will be forever filled with women that have no men with which to ever partner. After all we did to Russia……….well, actually we empowered Russia and proved WE do not have superior firepower to the rest of the world.
And now we are going to join the “awesome” Israelis as they go about slaughtering innocent women and children and the elderly all because “God gave the Israelis that entire area of the planet”. Yep and a guy with magic hair slew all the enemies of the Jewish people with a donkey jaw. I also never knew God was a realtor.
So yep, about that protecting ourselves rash of sh*t?