When a ship sinks, stupid passengers... go down also
[Published in the Holland Sentinel, 15 February 1982]
In the 18th century, just before Poland disappeared from the map (because it had no army and no fighting spirit and because its population was more interested in their private business than in the good of their country), the Jesuit priest Piotr Skarga preached as follows: "When a ship sinks, the stupid passengers, instead of combining their efforts to save the ship, try to save their private belongings, not understanding that when the ship goes down, they go down also...."
Does that not sound familiar? Can that not be applied to America today? No army, no fighting spirit, and everyone trying (as an individual or as a member of an organized interest group) to succeed in his own business.
America, our ship is sinking!