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Introduction: America at the Crossroads
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19207 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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7 / 1991 |
666 Words |
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On this 215th anniversary of its founding, America is clearly at a turning point in its history. In nearly every important field--from international relations and domestic policies to national leadership--the nation will be making critical decisions over the next 18 months that will determine America's future in the 1990s and beyond.
In the wake of the brilliant U.S.-led victory in the Persian Gulf, it is being said that the United States has finally buried the Vietnam syndrome. But what foreign policy will now follow: principled internationalism and cooperation or nativist neo-isolationism? Do the nation's leaders understand the critical difference between playing global policeman and acting as global catalyst against tyranny and for freedom?
Here at home, there are multiplying signs that this will be a "we"--not a "me"--decade. Americans young and old are rejecting the economic rat race and placing a new emphasis on family and home. But have Americans truly abandoned the economic and cultural excesses of the last several decades, or will they slip back once again into self-centered materialism and hedonism?
A rebirth of traditional American values is to be found in cities and towns and suburbs across the country. A new spirit of volunteerism is self-evident, based on the Judeo-Christian principle of helping your neighbor. But is there a true spiritual awakening, or is the rise in church attendance and a professed belief in God simply the latest American enthusiasm?
In this month's Special Report, THE WORLD & I examines the political, socioeconomic and spiritual trends in America and what they portend for the nation and the world.
Author-historian Max Lerner sees a turning away from overzealous statism and competitiveness toward community and family life. The 1960s' cry for "liberation" has been replaced by a hunger for bonding at all societal levels. Americans may be learning, Lerner suggests, that a people cannot be great unless they cherish the bonds that unite them to each other and to their communal place on earth.
Theologian Richard John Neuhaus agrees with Lerner that the great tide of religious feeling that swept over the 1980s shows no sign of receding in the 1990s. Believers sense a moment of great missionary opportunity as secularism remains on the defensive. Among other factors, says Neuhaus, the West is being forced to
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