It would be so easy! First, I’d have to think of something happening right now that didn’t used to happen back in the old days when everyone was happy. Texting! That’s a good one. So is decadence. Then I’d have to wax nostalgic about a past that never really existed, like this:
Across the centuries the moral systems from medieval chivalry to Bruce Springsteen love anthems have worked the same basic way. They take immediate selfish interests and enmesh them within transcendent, spiritual meanings. Love becomes a holy cause, an act of self-sacrifice and selfless commitment.
Or this:
When economic values did erode, the ruling establishment tried to restore balance. After the Gilded Age, Theodore Roosevelt (who ventured west to counteract the softness of his upbringing) led a crackdown on financial self-indulgence. The Protestant establishment had many failings, but it was not decadent. The old WASPs were notoriously cheap, sent their children to Spartan boarding schools, and insisted on financial sobriety.
(Wait, did I just claim that the WASP ruling class practiced unerring self restraint in the same paragraph that I mentioned the Robber Barons? Whoops!)
Finally, I’d have to convince my audience that this Evil New Thing is destroying everything, and that the only way to stop it is to embrace amorphous ethical concepts with which no one actually disagrees. Done. Although sometimes it would be important to mention the importance of deregulation and smaller government. I’d just sneak “low taxes” in between “self-restraint” and “America.”
Seriously, this dude is tiresome.
What For 