How did America go from Liberty & Abundance to Apathy & Dependency?

I think that there are issues that aren't addressed such as: 1) The current youth are apathetic because they've never had to actually fight for or earn anything for themselves and as a result don't have a real stake in anything they own or the current political situation. Why should they care about anything? If it breaks, it's easy to replace (especially if a parent or relative is the one who replaces it). This feeds into a cycle of no consequences, no responsibility, no strong feelings one way or another. Remember that the poorest in the USA are better than the majority of the populations of many countries. People feel entitled because, well, they've been taught that they're entitled. 2) Laws and political systems get old and stale. The US has more than 230 years of laws dumped on top of the original documents leading to a lot of red tape and abuse of the original intent. As an aside, if I could go back in time and change one thing about the constitution I would put in a statute restricting laws to one page as anything longer than that is trying to bury things in mounds of paper that no one ever reads until it's too late. 3) I wouldn't tie religious faith in with this considering that the USA is one of the most religious of first world countries, not to mention that the most atheist countries are the ones with the lowest crime and highest happiness averages. Just a few points I thought that I'd throw in. Great discussion.

Wow! How incredibly well this describes the current situation in the US! Frightening, isn't it? My greatest concern in this context is that we might not learn enough from the crises we face now to improve conditions so we can move on in a better way. A lot of people assume the US will be a world leader for all time, but it's clearly not true. We must all work at getting things straightened out and improving our collective lives based on solid values.

I believe that Tyler was talking about democracy, not nations. As to where we are as a nation... we are on a downward cycle into bondage. We already have dependency, accompanied by an Entitlement Mentality. As a Republic, we have a decision to make. Are we going to be responsible for ourselves, or are we going to succumb to government dependency? Right now it appears that we are headed to dependency, which can only lead to bondage and the loss of our rights and liberty.... however, I do not believe that we will go without a fight. That is what the TEA Parties are all about.

I guess most of the reasons about the decline of the Roman Empire could be applied to USA too ;)

very well said. those authors were genius. it affirms the saying the history repeats itself. i hope it doesn't happen to america, though. i hope it could be prevented, possibly by a change of heart. america symbolizes strength and power.it inspires a lot of countries, too.the "decay" will surely affect not just america but the whole world.