We think “agribusiness” instead of family farm. PresidentrnHavel made the sage comment that we should seek “new andrnbetter ways of managing society, the economy and the world,”rnand these new and better ways, if they represent a personal approach,rnare likely to be close to the old, traditional wavs thatrnwere widely rejected in recent decades, hi other words, the authenticallyrnpostmodern should bear a close resemblance to thernpremodern, for we vyould be returning to and reinforcing thernpermanent things.rnWhat will Americans of 2030 think when they walk thernstreets of New York and Los Angeles as we walk thernstreets of the 19th-century tovyns? We cherish the remains ofrnthe older tovyns and cities and take pride in the liyes that createdrnthose communities and formed the character of thoserntimes. It is hard to imagine any thoughtful, civilized Americanrnof 2030 looking at the 1980’s and 1990’s and having similarrnfeelings of pride, hi fact. New York and Los Angeles and otherrnaggregations of mass humanity may not even exist then in arnrecognizable wav. They may have imploded, vyith responsiblernlaw-abiding, self-reliant citizens fleeing their precincts, leavingrnbehind masses of irresponsible, lawless, dependent proletariansrninhabiting a near-wasteland. Already masses of young menrnwho are unfit for anything but a life of crime fill the big cities,rnwhere car theft is a rite of passage and where indiscriminate,rndrive-by shootings have reduced streets to the condition ofrnBeirut. And the flight from these cities has indeed begun. Irnthink of a financial-district worker in New York Citv whornmoved his family to peaceful upstate New York because hisrnseven-year-old daughter had a pistol aimed at her in a citv publicrnschool. Not only arc concerned citizens fleeing the big citiesrnbut significant sectors of business as well. New York City andrnLos Angeles have lost much of their manufacturing base, hirn1992 there were fewer manufacturing jobs in the Los Angelesrnmetropolitan area than in 1972, though the population of thernarea has increased by two million in the same period. Kevin L.rnKearns, writing in the Washington Post, reported that Japaneserncompanies have decided to locate their plants “awav from centralrncities” in “an attempt to avoid dealing with minority populations.”rnThe Plains states and other parts of the American midcontinentrnare likely to play a signihcant role in American life inrnthe future if there is to be a reinvigoration of American spirit byrnthe middle of the 21st century, hi this connection, it is importantrnto recognize that this region played a vital role in the introductionrnof humane reforms in the final years of the 19th andrneariv years of the 20th centuries. So, in the generation orrnmore ahead, it is likelv to plav an equally important role in thernhealing and strengthening of American culture.rnThe ability of this region to serve in a healing capacitv- stemsrnfrom the fact that it is the most rural part of the United States,rnthe region where the core values of the older America continuernto operate and where the sick lifestyles of alternative culturesrngain few adherents. Richard Critchfield argues persuasivelyrnthat “there is simply no substitute for the farm and small communityrnwhen it comes to forming human culture.” LhstorianrnMark Malvasi of the University of Alabama highlights the civilizationalrntask of upholding “humanity, discipline, restraintrnand above all deference to an ancestral authority,” which aptlyrndescribes what the peoples of the Plains states do in their personalrnand community lives. Their manner of life is differentrnfrom that of the millions in the giant cities of the East andrnWest. Here are millions who, in the words of Professor Malvasi,rn”celebrate the autonomy of the individual liberated from thernbonds of community.”rnTo be sure, even the most stable and sound regions of thernUnited States are endangered by the assault on decenc)’ carriedrnout bv the entertainment industry. With their television programsrnfilled with sex—often perverted sex—and violence, thernAmerican people are subjected to a brutalization process thatrndwarfs anything ever conducted by totalitarian regimes of thernpast. Even Newsweek, which usually accepts the twisted moresrnof contemporary television and motion pictures, wrote that thernNBC network’s fall 1992 series I Witness Video was “an exercisernin necroshock (that) comes from the pits of the porn trade.”rnOther networks and cable operations tear at the fabric of ourrnculture, civilization, and moral life by offering programs thatrnapprove of homosexuality, sadism, and every other conceivablernform of depravity. These programs wash across the minds ofrnthe American young and old and introduce fantasies of thernmost pathological type. The Today Show on NBC, for example,rndevoted part of its September 16, 1992, program to thern”etiquette” of condom use, discussing whether the man orrnwoman, or both, should carry condoms on a date. The undeflvrning assumption was that there is not a moral aspect to sex.rnThe Most Reverend James Sullivan, bishop of Fargo, NorthrnDakota, made this point to me—the corrupting influence ofrntelevision—in a summer 1992 interview. He warned against acceptancernof what is deemed suitable bv the force of publicrnopinion in a corrupted era, saying:rnThe problem we face in this country is almost exactlyrnthe same as was evidenced in the French Revolution,rnthe Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. A cultural revolutionrnin our society has taken place slowly, almost imperceptibly,rnduring the past 30 or 40 years. The sovereigntyrnof God has been replaced bv the “god” of publicrnopinion. The United States seems to be driven by thernforce of what the majority of the people feels the bestrnfor them—regardless of any higher law. All forms of sinrnand perversion can be justified by making an appeal tornthe omniscient forces of public opinion.rnAnd the situation will only get worse as the greed of the entertainmentrnmoguls and advertisers force ever more sordid andrnsick “entertainment” on Americans of all ages. This forcedrnfeeding of filth has to be resisted by the American people if allrnthe work of the moral institutions in society is not to be undone,rnif the United States is not to be turned into a corpse ofrna free society on the legislative, judicial, and constitutional levels.rnAs the former chief of police in Washington, D.C., IsaacrnEulwood, pointed out in his resignation speech, “the mediarnglamorizes sexually explicit videos such as those of the raprngroup 2 Live Crew” and are guilty of “putting the hnger on therntrigger.”rnFortunately, history tells us that counterforces to degeneracyrnand nihilism appear in the darkest places and forms. For example,rnin a lower-middle-class neighborhood of Lincoln, Nebraska,rnthere is the tiny St. Tikhon Russian Orthodox Churchrnand monastery, where prayers are offered around the clock byrndevoted monks and where the abbot calls on his parishioners tornbe “God-inspired outspeakers” and to take action when onernsees “a sound recording you believe is obscene being sold to arnchild or an adult.” One does not usually associate Nebraskarn24/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn