Question: "Scott Burgess from The Daily Ablution recently interviewed Michael Crichton, and asked him what he considered to be the most serious threat facing our civilization. I thought Crichton's answer was incredibly good:

"Loss of classical liberal values in those western societies that embraced them."

My question for you: What do you consider to be the most serious threat to our civilization?" -- President_Friedman

Answer: I'm with Crichton. The loss of classical Western values is the most serious threat to our country. We didn't become the greatest nation the world had ever seen by accident, it happened because of our culture and because of the things previous generations of Americans did to make this into a great nation.

The further we get from the Constitution, the more this country will decline. The less Christian this country becomes, the more it will decline. The more kids, percentage wise, who grow up outside of the traditional family structure, the more this country will decline. The more people become reliant on the government instead of themselves, the more this country will decline. The more mediocre our education system becomes, the more this country will decline. The more we move away from capitalism towards socialism, the more the country will decline.

Of course, conversely, the closer we get to the Constitution, more Christian the country becomes, more kids who live in two parent families, the more people who take care of themselves, the better educated we become, and the more capitalistic we get, the stronger this country will become.

This country was built -- for the most part -- by ambitious, Christian individualists who loved their country and -- for the most part -- those are still the people making this country work. As long as they're still around in great numbers, we'll continue to find a way to make it work no matter what the world throws at us.