What's wrong with America and can anything be done about it?

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

IT IS A CLICHED TALE as old as the hills. The elder generation looks at society's youngsters and shakes its head in disappointed wonder and disgust. "When I was a kid...," the admonishment inevitably begins. Today, however, the Establishment is in no position to criticize anyone or anything. If American youth is poisoned with skewed values and a lack of respect, one doesn't have to look very far to see where such behavior originates. Consider the following incidents:

* Unmarried pregnant teenage girls, no longer outcasts among their high school peers, instead are made cheerleaders and crowned homecoming queens by court order.

* The Chief Council for the President of the United States commits suicide and, before the body is even cold, Clinton Administration officials rifle through his office to remove all "incriminating" paperwork that related to the Chief Executive and First Lady.

* In 1993, New York Mets outfielder Vince Coleman threw an M-80 firecracker into a crowd of fans outside Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. A handful of people, including a little girl, were injured in the explosion. In response to the heat the Mets took following this ugly and unforgivable occurrence, the club's Vice President of Baseball Operations, Gary Hunsicker, stated: "This incident didn't happen during working hours. It didn't happen in the clubhouse. It only involves the Mets because he is an employee of the Mets. This is Vince Coleman's incident. This is Vince Coleman's problem."

* "The Program," a Disney movie about a college football team, contained a scene in which a drunken player lies on a busy highway's dividing line, with traffic zooming past. A New Jersey man and Pennsylvania teenager, imitating the dangerous stunt, were killed, while a New York teenager was paralyzed. The film's producers and distributors were blamed. (The scene subsequently was removed from the film and videotape version.)

* A New York City mugger was awarded $4,300,000 by the state's Court of Appeals, which ruled that the arresting officer used too much force by shooting him. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the decision.

* A 1993 survey released by Who's Who Among American High School Students found that the nation's top secondary school pupils get their good grades the oldfashioned way--they cheat. Eighty percent said cheating was common at their schools, and 78% admitted to doing so themselves.

* The handshake, long the symbol of sportsmanship and good will, has been banned at the closing of school sporting events in California's Ventura County. It seems that some players were spitting in their hands before shaking or slapping opponents in the face during the post-game ritual.

* Madison Square Garden Network announcer John Andariese has covered the National Basketball Association since 1972. Recently, he compared the "old days" to contemporary times, where players "diss" each other with trash talk. Bench-clearing brawls often are the result. "It wasn't that long ago when respect came from winning the game; a series; a championship. Self-respect was about being part of the game; now it's a reason to be thrown out of the game.

"Today, self-respect is so misplaced," he told the New York Post. "It's about putting your own feelings above all else. The individual's interests, including commercial interests, come before the team.... We've made heroes out of guys who do bad things; selfish things. The attention they receive is often equated with their ability to be entertaining, and that's when commercial opportunities present themselves."

* Fox Television, in a live update on the New York Rangers' 54-year quest for the Stanley Cup, cut to a reporter outside Madison Square Garden just before the opening faceoff of Game 5 of the finals. No sooner did the camera go on then a bunch of Big Apple rooters standing behind the reporter started chanting: "Let's Go Rangers! F--- Vancouver!" Loudly, over and over again. Did Fox switch back to the studio? Of course not. Instead, the obscene chant came cascading right into the viewer's living room, over and over.

* Fallen football hero O.J. Simpson, wanted by the Los Angeles Police on a doublemurder charge, took cops on a cross-county highway chase, captured live by news helicopter cameras. As O.J.'s car passed under an overpass, a group of revelers cheered him on, apparently delighted to be part of the action.

It all comes down to a breakdown in discipline and the advent of liberalism. The general idea is of total laissez-faire--the concept that everyone has a personal right to do whatever he or she wants. America has institutionalized selfishness.

People need not look out for anyone but themselves. My interest then becomes myself. I no longer have to worry about anyone else. When there is the understanding that people just live for themselves, when that attitude permeates a society, individuals attempt to protect themselves without regard for others. If they can't protect their rights in a civilized way, they're prepared to carry it through using a violent route, oftentimes with little or no regard for right and wrong, or how that action will impact upon themselves or those around them. After all, that person reasons, I'm free and have my own rights.

One can track this growth in liberalism with the breakdown of the great religions. The church taught a certain level of morals. "Thou shalt not steal" didn't come from the schools. Parents taught that. They took their kids to church, synagogue, or the mosque, and the youngsters were taught there that you mustn't kill; you mustn't do certain things. Along came liberalism, and no one bothered to teach those things anymore. This effectively has led to a bankrupt society. True, there are numerous social welfare programs, but, because Americans have let go of all other moral values, much of the good that these programs could have generated or produced has been lost.

There used to be corporal punishment in the schools. If teachers tried that today, they would be sued. If parents do it, they risk having the state take away their off-spring. Accordingly, such discipline wasn't only given up in school, but in the home as well.

Everywhere, there is unbidled freedom bordering on license. Children are allowed to watch any television program, no matter what it is. By allowing kids unrestricted access to TV, the movies, and new computer information systems...