It’s not the system that’s broken…

…it’s society

A friend posted on nextdoor, shortly after the recent shooting at a Georgia high school, discussing his concern about his own kids’ safety at school. He lamented that when he was in school (his public school tenure began in 1990, four years after I graduated high school), he never once thought or worried about a shooting. He wrote:

…in those 12 years I never once thought about or had to worry about a shooting. I worried about getting my ass kicked in gym, Y2K, making a school team, making decent grades to stay out of trouble, hoping that deer season opening day wasn’t near a big test that I most likely wasn’t prepared for, the cute girl in class on the bus noticed me, but I never feared dying at school at the hands of another student, alumni or whoever on school grounds. 

Aside from Y2K (my middle school had just begun offering computer programming classes using Apple II+ computers when I entered ninth grade), and deer season (I did not grow up hunting), I’d say his concerns mirrored my own and just about any other kid growing up and going through school prior to the year 1999. 1999 was the fateful year that two kids shot up Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. My friend considered Columbine an “outlier” event, as did most, because America had not previously experienced anything of the sort.

My friend continued:

When I dropped off one of my sons this morning at 1st grade at a public school in my neighborhood, my thought was immediately can I make it back to his school to save him if something went down…I don’t like that feeling something has to change…I don’t have the answer key, I just want to take my kids to school without creating a mental contingency plan on how to rescue them.

His assessment is that “the system is broken.” When I read this, I had nothing but empathy because, as he rightly stated, this isn’t something we worried about in the ‘70s, ’80s, and ‘90s or prior. It is, however, a real concern now.

As I considered his post, I came to the conclusion that I shared with him: it’s not the system that’s broken; it’s society that’s broken. If it was the system that was broken, the solution would be relatively easy as the problem could be addressed through legislation (or elimination of broken legislation - which may actually be part of the solution). Society is much harder to fix.

We no longer have an objective moral compass. Parents no longer raise their children to value human life (likely because they themselves don't). After all, if the most vulnerable among us, a child in the womb, is disposable, what makes a walking talking human any more valuable?

John Adams, our second president, warned us what would become of our country if we were no longer a "moral and religious people" (and by "religious", he did mean "Christian"). In an address to the Massachusetts Militia, Adams wrote:

...should the People of America, once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Iniquity and Extravagance; and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candour frankness & sincerity while it is rioting in rapine and Insolence: this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798

We hear much of “justice” (and “social justice”) these days, but justice is greatly miscarried. Violent criminals are set free to again commit crime, while minor offenders and innocents are prosecuted then locked up and left to rot in cells. Laws are changed to prosecute a former president in order to prevent him running again, while a sitting president avoids any consequence for crimes of equal or greater significance.

Politicians talk of “justice” for those who lack, who suffer, who are cast off by society, yet instead of instituting policy that would help such people, they work to further secure their own power and line their own pockets.

Our country is practicing iniquity and extravagance, we are rioting in rapine and insolence. Avarice, ambition, revenge, and gallantry (“galantry” was meant by Adams to express lewdness, debauchery) have consumed multitudes.

So much of what Adams warned against is now what we see, and his prediction is coming true - America is running headlong toward becoming “the most miserable Habitation in the World.”

In his post, my friend said, “don’t come at me with Trump this, Kamala that, or any politics…” He was right about that. This isn't a Harris or Trump issue - this is an America issue. We need to get back to our roots, our founding, otherwise, we won't recover; and right now, there are few, if any, in government, let alone the public, who share the perspective of our founding fathers.