WE HAVE PROBLEMS T he past three decades have seen wondrous growth, impressive technological advances, and major change. Yet if we ask about quality of life -- the good news is not as sanguine. What’s become of honesty, loyalty courage, patriotism, discipline, hard work, commitment to marriage and the family, or a pitcher who knows how to make the double play? No one wants to give up the freedom and autonomy that modernity has brought. No one wants to give up the transformation of our material lives that the past decade or two has brought. And even if we did want to give these things up, we couldn’t. At this point in our history, we have to figure out how to live with modernity because we can certainly no longer live without it. But at the same time that we value modernity, we are beginning to see the need to find a way to balance the guidance and constraint of tra- dition with the chaos and openness of change. It’s a very difficult challenge. Thirty years ago the United States was in its worst recession and greatest political crisis since World War II. Yet, by a variety of indicators, we were bet- ter off then than we are today. Back then, the U.S. government was frustrated that it could not erase a $20 billion budget deficit. Today the government struggles with an annual deficit of roughly $100 billion 1. In 1974 America was fighting both the Cold war and the Vietnam war, yet our military expen- ditures as a percentage of gross national product (GNP) were roughly the same as they are today when we have no such perceived threats. Back then
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