America, the Founders’ Dream, and the Nightmare of Decline

By Steve McCann

The one common thread in this year’s presidential campaign, regardless of party, is a palpable sense of anxiety regarding the future and anger as to why the nation finds itself in its current state of decline.  The answers offered by the candidates of the two political parties are nothing more than platitudes, empty promises and fealty to failed political theory that will only exacerbate the deterioration.  The solution to prevent the United States from continuing to evolve into the latest example of the rise and fall of great nations lies in its founding and an understanding of the foibles of human nature.

I immigrated to the United States in 1951 as one of only 8,000 displaced war orphans allowed under the terms of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948.  When I was eventually adopted I did not speak English; rather I spoke two foreign languages, one of which was German stemming from my days in an Allied run orphanage in occupied Germany.   Nonetheless, this trait did not endear me to my peers in a small quasi-Southern city in an era when the wounds of the War had yet to heal.   Thus having virtually nothing in common with anyone, I retreated to learning English by becoming an inveterate reader and constant denizen of the local library.

Among the first biographies I read was George Washington, which triggered a voracious curiosity about the founding of the nation and the history of governance throughout the annals of mankind.  In particular, why did the American experiment succeed when so many nations in the continent I came from, and witnessed first-hand, self-destructed?

I read the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation as well as the Constitution and the attendant Federalist Papers, which led me to the writings of John Locke, Montesquieu, and Edward Coke, all of whom played an instrumental role in the thought process of the Founders.  I was struck by the fact that the men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 and 1787, while knowledgeable about history, understood human nature.  That there are two driving forces in mankind: 1) survival and 2) the insatiable need for some to dominate and control others.

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Articles: America, the Founders’ Dream, and the Nightmare of Decline