Both the Jeffersonian Democrat and the libertarian have an interest in fostering a moral society. The late liberal Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan lamented in a 1993 essay: “[O]ver the past generation...we have been redefining deviancy so as to exempt much conduct previously stigmatized, and also quietly raising the ‘normal’ level in categories where behavior is now abnormal by any earlier standard.”

I feel fortunate to live in Bozeman, where sensibility and sound values still generally prevail. After living in the San Francisco Bay Area and New Orleans, Bozeman is an island of sanity and decency. Here family, God, and country are not dirty words. Still, I see symptoms of America’s cultural decline.

Even in small-town Montana I see teenage boys aping the criminal chic and attitude of gangsta rap. While frugality is an admirable quality, one to encourage among our youth, it should not be applied to girls’ clothing. And is it really cool to be dumb?

The values of self-control, responsibility, and consideration have lost favor with many parents. The social “revolutionaries” who followed the 1960s are parents of teens and twenty-somethings. Those who overthrew tradition and social inhibition find they have shaky moral grounds to constrain their children’s “rights” through discipline. Many who reject economic laissez faire find it appropriate for child rearing. Parents who do try to instill positive values in their offspring must counter the influence of a popular culture promoting promiscuity, narcissism, and irresponsibility.

Nor do the nation’s public schools offer much guidance or restraint. For example, although Bozeman High School regularly produces several National Merit Scholars, the theme of its TWIRP dance this year was the musical Chicago. Lingerie and lacy underwear were popular attire among the girls. Nationwide, teachers who reign in unruly students must contemplate lawsuits from offended parents. Social promotion ensures students progress, regardless of learning. By and large, schools are in the business of promoting “self-esteem” rather than challenging and educating.

Another force eroding American culture is “multiculturalism,” i.e. tribalism. It has splintered many common social bonds and hinders or prevents the formation of new ones. Individuals are regarded, and encouraged to identify themselves, as members of persecuted minorities based on gender, race, sexual orientation, and so on. The emphasis is on largely superficial and accidental differences, instead of shared values.

Martin Luther King’s dream of a nation where minorities “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” has been rudely awakened by the reality of Jesse Jackson’s racist shakedowns. Clamors for special consideration replace responsibility.

As a confusion of subcultures crowds out our once-common culture, America’s ethnic and cultural melting pot looks more like a Mother’s Day buffet.

Frances Fukuyama argued in his 1995 book Trust that “a people’s ability to maintain a shared ‘language of good and evil’ is critical to the creation of trust, social capital, and all the other positive economic consequences that flow from these attributes.... [P]ast a certain point, [diversity] erects new barriers to communication and cooperation....”

The social “liberation” of the 1960s and ’70s and the moral relativism preached in universities consciously erode this “language of good and evil.” In its place they have fostered an amoral, if not immoral, social environment. One in which moral judgment is taboo. In the name of freedom, anything is permitted and little is condemned -- except, of course, “old-fashioned” values like strong families, self-discipline, and personal responsibility. The “rights” demanded by the politically correct often simply cloak irresponsibility and license.

The historian Lord Acton argued that true liberty is not “the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” Liberty without responsibility leads to decadence and decline. And when we abuse our freedom, we will lose it. In order to remain free we must each govern ourselves.

If parents and schools don’t teach children discipline, respect, and consideration, the state will increasingly manage social relations. Those who cannot control themselves will be controlled by others -- legislators, regulators, and the police. This destroys freedom. But a citizenry composed of self-governing individuals will rarely need the power of the state to solve its problems.