Is America a Sick Culture?

Townhall.com is out of service right now, but there was a William Bennett article defending American culture in relation to the Virginia Tech massacre. For Bennett, America is the "last, best hope of civilization" despite incidents like Virginia Tech or Columbine.

From my perspective, the United States is neither a particularly sick culture nor the "last, best hope of civilization." If the war in Iraq has proved anything, it's that the U. S. is not the world's main hope. True, there are things about American society that are extraordinary by any measure. There's an enormous inventiveness to the United States that seems to be unique among contemporary societies. Americans have also tackled the moral problems of racism, misogyny, and homophobia in a particularly open and self-critical way since the 1950's.

At the same time, progress has come at a heavy price. Successful initiatives to combat traditional bigotries have stimulated an aggressive backlash and the American right has become the most virulent culture of reaction in the Western world, probably the whole world, since fascism.

The U. S. has much to contribute to the world. Unfortunately, one of those things is a unstable right-wing which is a constant danger to start new wars and destabilize American and international institutions.