A Nation Committing Suicide

Historian Arnold Toynbee observed “an autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.”

It’s hard not to think about this reading the results of the latest Wall Street Journal-NORC poll, appearing under the headline “America Pulls Back From Values That Once Defined It.”

Only 38% of Americans now say patriotism is “very important,” compared to 70% in 1998. Thirty-nine percent say religion is “very important,” compared to 62% in 1998. And 30% say having children is “very important,” compared to 59% in 1998.

The results that follow from these attitudes are not surprising.

Marriage rates are way down. Birthrates are way down.

In 1990, 67% of American adults between the ages of 25-54 were married. This was down to 51% in 2021.

In 2020, there were 56 births in the U.S. for every 1,000 women ages 15-44. In 1990, there were 70.9.

And, among the births we do have, in 2021, 40% of our babies were born to unmarried mothers. (Read more from “A Nation Committing Suicide” HERE)

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