I believe that the fundamental problem in America is that Americans have abandoned Truth as a basic value. (One can argue that few Americans ever held Truth as a basic value in the first place, but that is a different issue. One can also argue that other cultures do not hold objective truth in any higher esteem than Americans but the pot calling the kettle black is also a different issue.)
Let me make two points:
1) Truth exists and is important; and
2) Truth is not a core value of the majority of Americans.
Which lead to the conclusion:
3) America has a problem.
1) Contrary to postmodern theory, there is an objective truth which has the following characteristic: Logical conclusions drawn from true facts leads to correct predictions; and the collolary: Logical conclusions drawn from falsehoods leads to incorrect predictions.
To illustrate: The law of gravity is true; and I am holding a weight above my desk; implies that, if I release the weight, it will fall and strike the desk. Newton's laws pass the test and allow me to build bridges that do not collapse, jet aircraft that fly faster than sound, etc.
Another illustration: God answers people's prayers and Terri Shiavo's parents spent 10 years praying that Terri will be made whole again; implies that Terri has been getting on with her life for the last five years. Whoops. The observable prediction did not occur, therefore one of the premises is not true. Guess God doesn't always answer people's prayers. Whimsical fellow, this God. Maybe we should use Newton's laws instead of prayer to design 747s.
Despite to my flippant tone, even the Pope would agree that prayer should not be used as the sole means to keep aircraft aloft, citing 3000 years of theological study to explain why God does not always answer prayers. But that raises the interesting point. If prayer is not a good way to solve clear and simple problems, such as building a bridge, why is it considered a good approach to more important problems, such as deciding whether to go to war, whether to divorce one's wife, or whether to keep a body without a functioning brain alive? If God can decide to let that aircraft fall out of the sky, he can also decide to send you into a war that you will lose or decide to destroy your family. Just ask Job about that last one.
2) The rise in American fundamentalism is not the only symptom of the abandonment of Truth as a basic value, just the most obvious one.
Consider other recent specific examples:
Bush said that there were WMDs in Iraq, including massive bunkers under the streets of Baghdad. None were found; and those bunkers would have been pretty hard to hide.
Congress approved the War in Iraq based on Hussein's links to Al Qaeda. No such link has even been found (and basic knowledge of Hussein's politics indicates that he would never ally himself with Islamic fundamentalists).
Americans continue to insist that Canada's border is open to terrorists. Yet two terrorists who tried to cross the border were stopped and arrested; no successful act of terror has ever been committed by anyone who entered the US from Canada.
Academics, who should be the guardians of truth, say that questions, such as the relationship between race and IQ or sources of gender differences in mathematical ability, should never even be asked for fear that truth will be unpalatable to our sensibilities.
Perusing through a bookstore yesterday, I see a recent book that implies that the United States won the war of 1812 and another that Arabs were really behind the Oklahoma city bombing. Recent movies have claimed that the Americans broke the German Enigma code in World War II (U571) and that British troops committed atrocities against American colonists in the American Revolution (The Patriot).
I heard a caller to a talk radio program suggest that no nation besides the United States would have sufficient medical capability to keep Terri Shiavo alive for 15 years and the host did not correct him. The host agreed that only Americans have access to basic medical technology.
Why are Americans so enamored with falsehoods? Apparently because:
a) falsehoods are more entertaining that truths (the "news" media are paid by the number of viewers);
b) falsehoods are easier than truths ("God makes lightning" is easer to understand than Maxwell's equations).
c) falsehoods stroke the American ego better (I notice that Americans never believe any falsehood that would put them in a bad light, only the ones that say that Americans are better than everyone else in every way);
d) falsehoods allow Americans to do whatever they want (the abandonment of Truth as a value seems to correlate with the rise in American military power).
3) The problem with devaluing Truth is that it leads to mistakes. America has stepped into a war in the Middle East that is sucking its economy dry. America seems about to abandon its lead in medical technology by mis-educating its children in basic biology and halting research in a number of key areas including stem cell research, cloning, genetic engineering. America is stifling social science research with ridiculous ethical committees that make much ado about trivial ethical "dilemmas". America has alienated its most important friends internationally because its views of many current situations are at odds with its friends'. America is the greatest contributor to global warming, environmental pollution, and resource depletion and will not change it's wasteful ways.
Every empire has been followed by a dark age - Rome in the 300s, Mayans in the 900s, Islam in 1200s, China in the 1500s. Dark ages are rather hard on the citizens of the empire and their descendents. For the sake of ourselves and our children, let's not hasten the next dark age by sticking our collective heads in the sand. Better to grit our teeth and face the truth, however difficult it may be.
Yours,
Thom Whalen