Is This Republic Worth Saving?

There’s been a great deal of talk lately on the likely demise of this Grand Republic of ours.  Very wise and scholarly Americans have taken to opining publicly on the dire state of things, all asking the basic question, “Can this Republic be saved”?

Some historians have compared our current plight to that of the Roman Empire in its fall-apart days.  Some Hollywood doomsayers point to the end date of the Mayan calendar:  2012.  Biblical prophecy experts see an apocalyptic climax forming.

Sociologists study the decline in marriage, the tsunami of out-of-wedlock childbirth, the failed public education system, the rising disparity between rich and poor and come to the conclusion that without desperate measures, America cannot sustain herself.  Demographers point to drastically declined birth rates in every outpost of Western Civilization and remind us that demography is destiny; without new citizens civilization itself is unsustainable.

Economists pore over the unemployment rates, the inflation rate, the creeping stagflation, the stock market jitters and see the most dire danger signs all around.  Our inextricably linked global economies and unmoored-by-gold currency fluctuations make us all vulnerable to every financial hiccup and belch in other regions.  The IMF goes begging; leaders of failing economies sign worthless promissory notes.  Workers are told they’ll have to work a couple more years to get their pensions and violence erupts.  Our American Fed gets out its printing press and prepares to “prime the pump” with yet more Monopoly money.

Meanwhile, political polarization grows more and more heated and less restrained.  Things seem to be reaching fever pitch here at home while communists and Islamofascists join forces for war games in the Middle East.  Wise watchers see an ominous similarity between pre-WWII economic conditions and rising totalitarian political systems, warning that what happened then could be about to repeat itself — this time, with nuclear weapons.

In short, this looks scary as hell, foreboding in the extreme, and it would surely take a ninny of historic imbecility not to at least be quite angst-ridden over the future.

So, can this Republic be saved?