The decline of civic clubs and churches, and the weakening of family structure – groups Edmund Burke called the “little platoons” of democracy -- are damaging our collective ability to sacrifice.

The Spending Splurge and the End of Sacrifice

by Ray Nothstine

As our nation’s $17 trillion debt spirals out of control, and spiritual disciplines decline in the West, we need to face the reality of America’s inability to collectively sacrifice. Even the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg seemed to pass this year with scant attention, as if such extreme sacrifice is alien and distant to our way of life today.

Washington’s brokenness is cheered by a majority of the political class, declaring a “crisis averted.” The “crisis” for a majority of the leaders in Washington, however, is not our debt or insatiable appetite to spend, but the notion that it might possibly involve limitations or must end in belt-tightening.

During the recent spending debate, how many organizations dependent on government funding came forward to say they could make do with less? Even individuals in tea party groups, considered spend-slashing stalwarts, consistently declare they are against cuts to social security and Medicare. The irony is striking, given that entitlement reform is the only path to debt reduction. “The only society that can make entitlements work is the one that doesn’t feel entitled,” says National Reviewnews editor Daniel Foster.

Likewise, there is a surging class of government dependents that look more and more to the state to take care of their every whim. The number of food stamp recipients totaled 17 million in 2000; today that number has swelled to 48 million. It’s not that Americans are inherently less capable of sacrifice, but they are captured, then strangled, by an increasing number of harmful incentives.

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