Adaptation vs. Change

by J.G. Fabiano

Over the past 16 years our cultural philosophy about how society should handle certain situations has taken a full turn to the right. One of these ideas concern the death penalty, which recently had one of its worst days since many states legalized corporal punishment. Also the concepts of an aggressive defense policy, family values, abortion, education, and how our government handles the checks and balances on its own power are now more then ever being discussed.

In the ultra-liberal 1960's, the death penalty was discussed in terms of completely outlawing it. The reason for this was simple. No people or government should have the right to take another person's life regardless of what the person did to society. In other words, no state or individual has a right to play God. What if the decision proved to be wrong. After the individual is dead, declaring him innocent is of little consolation.

In the Reagan 1980's, the cry has evolved into the idea that if a heinous crime is committed against society, the people responsible should be sentenced to a punishment that equals the crime. The people supporting this, "eye for an eye", philosophy state that their views aren't changing from the ideas of the sixties. They are merely adapting to the violent realities of today.

The frenzied conservative ideas of the 1980's are exemplified by our aggressive defense policies. These policies are proudly displayed as returning America toward success and victory. Speaking about Grenada, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and the Persian Gulf; today's Americans exhibit pride in their view that the strength of America will prevail in our new found philosophy of power. Our military looks toward the demise of communism as an example of how might makes right.

Today, Viet Nam is only discussed in regards to the brave men who fought the war. Little is heard about how the twisted, power lusting ideas of our government's policies created a dilemma in which only the deaths of tens of thousands of American could force the end of the nightmare. But the peace-nicks of our past have evolved into the pro-power advocates of today. These people vehemently state that they didn't change. They simple adapted toward a new world order in which we are forced to survive.

Our nation's history, even though based on the idea that church and state should be separated, has always been proud of its philosophy that we must live freely and independently under God. The entire world followed our lead by mirroring this philosophy to include individual rights and freedoms.

But after the death of Camelot and the lack of heroes to believe in, there arrived a resurgence of Fundamental Christian ideas. To believe became synonymous with an end of the anxiety of non-belief. The 1960 Vatican Council advances in the granting of freedoms to the people degraded into the dogmatic ideas of Pope John Paul II. The free thinkers of the 1960's changed into the PTL'ers of the 1970' and 1980's. These people then grew older and became the Christian Right supporting the ideas of Buchanon. I once heard a speech by this man when he was running for president. He told the crowd that he wants to bring America back to their image. That his was the real face of America. This concept terrified me because we are all not alike. The American people have never been. Again, they argue that they simply adapted to the new reality of our world by being, "born again".

After the Second World War and during the Eisenhower 1950's, the American people became deeply involved in their quest for the American Dream. Even though this trek for money and thus security was extreme, the ethics and morality of our society remained strong. These ethics included the responsibility to take care of the poor, weak, sick, and old. Through the free thinking era of the 1960' and early 1970's these American ideas retained a strong sense of right and wrong.

Today these same people exclaim that these ideas led the American economy into recession after recession and that they were forced to adapt themselves into ideas that success was synonymous with right. They go on to explain that if their were some in our society that did not want the opportunity for success then they should be left alone to fail. When asked about the old and the sick, they simply explain these problems away by stating that their were plenty of charities to take care of these supposedly few exceptions. In other words, Machiavellian ideas that the ends always justified the means evolved it's way into American thought and philosophy. We are told by many of the people who support the Christian right that we can no longer afford these type of people.

When asked about the scandals of today's business and government communities these same people state that the individuals involved were wrong because they were caught. The people who adapted themselves into this philosophy should take some time and study the similarities of today to the disastrous ideas of their predecessors who lived during the roaring early 1980's and into the failures of the later part of that decade. We and our children are still paying for this disaster. We can only pray that we don't do it again.

Ethics naturally evolved with today's ideas of morality. For decades, even centuries, the American woman fought to control their own lives and bodies. The free spirited ideas of the 1960's allowed this class of mankind to take control over their own hopes, dreams, and futures. But today's society fights to have these advances reversed. The idea that no woman has a right to decide how her life should evolve is growing in popularity especially with the Christian Right movement. They give examples of the sexual diseases of today and how they appeared because of this antiquated type of free thinking. These people go on to explain how the American woman must adapt themselves into the responsibility of respecting life and thus retreat back into the caste system in which God himself must have constructed.

It is a known fact that today's public educational system has evolved into being one of the weakest in today's industrialized world. The cry for a better caliber of public education headlines more of our local and national periodicals every day. Teachers are blamed for this degradation of the system because they no longer care and are only concerned with how much money they can negotiate themselves into. The parents are blamed because they are to busy trying to survive in today's competitive society and they don't have any time left for their children. Our children are blamed because they don't give a damn about themselves or their society. Even society is blamed because it has given into the idea that it is time for the American people to give up their standing as being the most educated people of the world.

There are some in our society that believe that equal education should be changed into allowing parents to decide which school their children will attend. This is called the voucher system. But, anyone familiar with this policy realizes that this system would take money out of public education and put it in the more affluent private schools. In other words, the people with money will become educated while the people with less money will have little hopes to succeed or survive.

One could write forever about how the American people have changed to make their lives more successful. The dinner table has always been the best forum to argue these and many other ideas. At these discussions it is imperative to add the question of whether we are adapting our lives because of the changes in our society. Or are the changes in society being created because of our newly discovered adaptations.

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Last Updated: August 28, 1996