"Americans are Destroying America" (long post)

I've recently been reading Ezra Taft Benson's biography, and I'm constantly amazed at the type of men the Lord places on this earth to direct His affairs.  I've just finished the part in the book which tells of President Benson's time as Secretary of Agriculture and it's incredible how determined he was to stick to what he believed to be right regardless of the political pressure that was heaped on him.

I try not to presume what others would think, but I believe President Benson would be shocked at the direction our country is headed in.  Last night I read an excerpt from a talk he gave in General Conference in April 1968 and it really struck me.  I've included some of the talk in this post, the full text can be found here.  Keep in mind the statistics he reads are over 40 years old and much more shocking today.  

"I do not believe the greatest threat to our future is from bombs or guided missiles. I do not think our civilization will die that way. I think it will die when we no longer care, when the spiritual forces that make us wish to be right and noble die in the hearts of men, when we disregard the importance of law and order.

"If American freedom is lost, if America is destroyed, if our blood-bought freedom is surrendered, it will be because of Americans. What’s more, it will probably not be only the work of subversive and criminal Americans. The Benedict Arnolds will not be the only ones to forfeit our freedom.

"'At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?' asked Abraham Lincoln, and he answered, 'If it ever reaches us, it must spring up among us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher; as a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.' (Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1837.)

"If America is destroyed, it may be by Americans who salute the flag, sing the national anthem, march in patriotic parades, cheer Fourth of July speakers–normally good Americans, but Americans who fail to comprehend what is required to keep our country strong and free–Americans who have been lulled away into a false security.

"Great nations are never conquered from outside unless they are rotten inside. Our greatest national problem today is erosion, not the erosion of the soil, but erosion of the national morality–erosion of traditional enforcement of law and order.

"In this blessed land we have exalted security, comfort, and ease above freedom. If we dwelled at length on the many things that are disturbing in the life of America today, we might well become discouraged. I mention only a few of the reported startling evidences of our national illness, our moral erosion.

"–There is a decline of U.S. morals and moral fiber, a turning to pleasure and away from hard work and high standards of the past.

"–There is a growing worry in our universities over cheating in examinations.

"–Nationwide juvenile delinquencies show an eight-fold increase since 1950.

"–There is a 500-million dollar smut industry in this country causing youngsters to wrestle with standards of value.

"–America is the biggest market for narcotics.

"–Although we consider ourselves a people who believe in law and order, we have seen much evidence of the passion of the mob.

"–Riots have occurred in 137 different cities and towns in 33 months, resulting in 120 deaths, including 12 police officers slain; 3,623 other persons injured; 28,932 arrested; and hundreds of millions of dollars property damage.

"–Crime in the United States is up 88 percent in seven years, rising nearly nine times faster than population, up 16 percent per year, according to the FBI. Crime costs some $20 billion a year, and less than 21 percent of reported crimes result in arrests and less than one-third of those in convictions.

"–In the midst of a cold war and preparation for a possible shooting war of survival, we have faced 651 strikes at missile bases in six years.

"–The United States government has racked up a shameful record of 31 treasury deficits in the past 35 years.

"–The sky-rocketing cost of the welfare state increased in 8 years from 6.9 billion to 20.3 billion dollars in 1961 and stood at 87 billion 578 million in 1966.

"–There are over 7,700,000 people on relief in federal, state, and local programs.

"–During the past 33 years our budget has increased 20 times over, and our national debt has increased from $16 billion to an admitted $324 billion; adding accrued liabilities payable in the future, our real indebtedness exceeds $1 trillion, or an average indebtedness of $5,200 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.

"–Our present federal debt is equal to a first mortgage of $10,000 on all owned homes in the country and is reported to exceed the combined debt of all countries of the world. Annual interest on the soaring national debt is over $15 billion–only defense and welfare are higher.

"–American currencies are weaker than those of Germany and Japan, who were defeated in World War II.

"–Inflation has struck a serious blow to the value of the American dollar.

"–We continue to move in the direction of more federal intervention, more concentration of power, more spending, more taxing, more paternalism, more state-ism."