America's Season of Paradox.

• Author: Bresler, Robert J.
• Position: Brief Article - Column

The political climate in America at the turn of this century fits, in a bizarre way, Charles Dickens' description of Europe at the turn of the 18th, when he wrote in A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." While Washington politics has become more trivial and childish, the country has been enjoying a degree of sustained prosperity and social stability unmatched since the years following World War II. Unemployment and inflation are at their lowest rates in 25 years; gasoline prices in real dollars are at unprecedented lows; at 1998's end, the Dow was moving into record territory; and the U.S. financial system seems almost immune to the Asian flu.

The social pathologies that for so long have concerned many seem to be in remission. The withering away of the crack market helps to explain why homicide rates are the lowest in 30 years and violent felonies are down by 14% over the past five years. A Justice Department report released at the end of 1998 claims that both violent and property crimes have fallen to their lowest levels since 1973. Beyond the decline in crack cocaine use, experts seeking to explain all this cite employing more aggressive police searches, better efforts to track weapons utilized in crimes, and a booming economy that gives former drug traffickers legitimate jobs.

For reasons less clear, there are fewer sexually active teenagers, and teen pregnancies that were climbing steadily are at 1975 levels. College Board scores are improving slowly for both black and white students. Families seem more stable as the divorce rate is declining gradually. People are healthier and living longer. Although teenage smoking rates are up, the percentage of adults who smoke has shrunk by almost half since the 1964 Surgeon General's report linking cigarettes to heart and lung diseases. The air is cleaner and the water supply is safer, as are automobile and air transportation. The nation is generally at peace, and the military-industrial complex is a shadow of its former self.

Ironically, as America grows healthier, its political culture seems in a state of decay and demoralization. Bill Clinton is our most diminished moral figure to serve in the White House, with the possible exception of Richard Nixon. One can argue that Nixon's crimes were more serious than Clinton's. After all, Nixon's extra-legal methods--the Plumbers' operation and the efforts to use the FBI and IRS against his political enemies--could...