PREFACE
America’s decline should be approached from many different perspectives. The major strength of this well-researched and heavily foot-noted book is the way it approaches social ethical issues on a rational case-by-case “ground” level. It reports social science-related research that comments on each issue. Interesting anecdotes and insights are spread throughout.
This book looks at the impact of TV programming loaded with gratuitous violence. It examines how values are formed on both an individualized and family level. It provides evidence for both a genetic and environmental basis for criminal behavior. This includes a theory of the “criminal personality.” In other areas, such as business, it discusses the impact of “down-sizing” and mergers. In regard to sports, it dares to criticise current norms in American football.
The book also explains how to create better incentives for productive values. One generally needs to increase accountability, transparency, competition for virtue, and a personal shareholder stake. These things certainly become harder as societies become larger and more complex. But before we can build coherent macro theory, we must first start with the grass roots viewpoint explored in this book.
About 80% of this book focuses on the “micro,” which in fact has been the realm of the author’s professional discipline. Dr. William M. Fox is a retired college professor of organizational behavior and management at the University of Florida. Much of his life’s work has involved collating and interpreting research studies about grass roots issues.
When it comes to the “macro,” which comprises about 20% of this book, the author’s interpretations generally seek reform within the context of the existing social, economic, and national media milieu in America rather than revolutionary rejection or overhaul.
However, do not allow the moderately reasonable tone of this work mislead you about the ultimate urgency of its message. America’s declining values are opening up the gates of hell.
The full impact of America’s values decline is still vastly under-appreciated. America will probably continue to experience runaway debt growth, loss of its industrial base, and declining productivity. An excellent online source for more details is the Grandfather Economic Report. America will probably also continue to experience the pro-Third World demographic changes discussed in Peter Brimelow’s classic Alien Nation, Pat Buchanan’s Death of the West, and Frosty Wooldridge’s “The Next Added 100 Million Americans” series. Lastly, America will likely continue very aggressive and costly foreign adventures. All of this could lead to hyperinflation, major social instability, and ultimate system failure. This could in turn cause repudiation of its current centralized government and consolidated media structures. American communities may be forced to reinvent themselves on a local or “micro” level regardless of whether or not they really understand how they have been misled or betrayed on a macro institutional level.
I can immediately think of at least two futuristic works that dramatically illustrate how things could become vastly worse before they get better. One is William S. Lind’s satiric 1995 Washington Post short story "Militant Musings: From Nightmare 1995 to My Utopian 2050.” The other is Thomas W. Chittum’s 1996 book Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America.
If these kinds of cyclic interpretations of history prove to be in any way prescient, all of this definitely leads us back towards closely reexamining the “micro” level. And herein lies the core strength of this book.
I expect this book to stand the test of time well.
William B. Fox America First Books April 2007 Vancouver, WA
America’s decline can and should be approached
from many different perspectives. The major strength of this well-researched
and heavily foot-noted book is the way it approaches social ethical
issues on a rational case-by-case “ground level” or
micro-level and reports social science-related research that comments
on each issue. There are lots of interesting anecdotes and insights
spread throughout this work.
As some examples of the ground-level
breadth of this book, it looks at TV programming loaded with gratuitous
violence and other forms of irresponsible behavior and examines
studies regarding the impact. It examines how values are formed
on an individualized or family level and the social implications
regarding the vast increase in broken homes. It provides evidence
for a genetic basis to criminal behavior and outlines a theory of
a “criminal personality.” In other areas, such as business,
it discusses the impact of “down-sizing” and mergers.
In regard to sports, it dares to include criticism of current norms
in American football.
The book also explains how one
can create better incentives for productive values once they are
identified. One generally needs to increase accountability, transparency,
competition for virtue, and a personal shareholder stake. These
things become harder as societies become larger and more complex,
but at least one needs to start with a solid foundation and be able
to work upwards in order to support coherent macro theory.
About 80% of this book focuses
on the “micro,” which in fact has been the realm of
the author’s professional discipline. Dr. William M. Fox,
who happens to be my father, is a retired college professor of organizational
behavior and management at the University of Florida, and much of
his life’s work has involved collating and interpreting research
studies about grass roots issues.
When it comes to the “macro,”
which comprises about 20% of this book, I think that my father’s
interpretations and sensibilities are often consistent with those
of many moderate conservatives in America today, particularly among
the generation lauded
by national media anchor Tom Brokaw. My father was 17 years old
at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
My father’s macro interpretations
generally seek reform within the context of the existing social,
economic, and national media milieu rather than revolutionary rejection
or overhaul. They tend to be accommodative of existing American
institutions and many contemporary national icons.
Nevertheless, I am reminded of
George Orwell’s famous quote: "In a time of universal
deceit -- telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Reading
through the text, I see many ways that even a moderate conservative
can appear radical without really trying by simply making reasonable
deductions from honestly reported evidence.
I can also see how other authors,
whose life’s work has been focused on alternative forms of
macro analysis, such as from anarcho-libertarian, racial nationalist,
sociobiological, historical revisionist, classical liberal, or conspiracy
theory viewpoints -- all of which I believe offer some valid and
interesting contrarian perspectives -- might go from “macro”
back down to the “micro” covered in this book in some
different ways, with some different interpretations regarding “good
guys” and “bad guys” and what needs to be done.
Therefore, please do not be surprised to eventually see America
First Books publish books with other, often complementary viewpoints.
All of this is a lot more than
just academic. America’s declining values are opening up the
gates of hell. The full impact is still vastly under-appreciated.
America will probably continue to experience runaway debt
growth, loss
of its industrial base, and declining productivity, as documented
online by the Grandfather
Economic Report. It will probably also experience continued the
pro-Third World demographic changes discussed in Peter Brimelow’s
classic Alien
Nation and Pat Buchanan’s Death
of the West. All of this could lead to hyperinflation, major
social instability, and ultimate system failure. This could in turn
cause repudiation of its current centralized government and consolidated
media structures. American communities may be forced to reinvent
themselves on a local or “micro” level regardless of
whether or not they really understand how they have been misled
or betrayed on a macro institutional level.
I can immediately think of at least
two futuristic works that dramatically illustrate how things could
become much worse before they get better. One is William S. Lind’s
satiric 1995 Washington Post short story "Militant Musings:
From Nightmare 1995 to My Utopian 2050” (available online).
The other is Thomas W. Chittum’s 1996 book “Civil
War II: The Coming Breakup of America.”
If these kinds of cyclic interpretations
of history prove to be in any way prescient, this will definitely
lead us back towards closely reexamining the “micro”
level, and back towards the core strengths of this book, which I
expect to stand the test of time well.
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William
B. Fox
Publisher
America
First Books |
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December 2005
Vancouver, WA
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