Prime Minister Cameron Blames London Riots on 'Slow Motion Moral Collapse'

The Prime Minister spoke the truth in an age of political sophistry

'We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong. We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said, about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy.' There are crisis moments in the history of Nations when leaders rise to the occasion and become very different people than they were before the crisis. Perhaps that is what has happened to  David Cameron. 

P>LONDON, England (Catholic Online) - As England recovers from four days of riots, Prime Minister David Cameron seems to have found his voice. He has begun to speak with clarity and great insight concerning the root cause of the problems which Engalnd faces. A Nation once known for civility suffered four days of violence, bloodshed and anarchy which left five people dead, thousands in jail and over 350 million dollars in damage.
 
On Monday Cameron spoke at a youth center in Witney, his parliamentary district in the south of England. He pulled no punches. He said that the riots had been caused by a "slow motion moral collapse."  He spoke of the desperate need to fix a "broken society."

The Prime Minister said that the four days had "been a wake-up call for our country. Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face. Just as people last week wanted criminals robustly confronted on our street, so they want to see these social problems taken on and defeated."

Cameron broke ranks with some others in public office in the UK who have spent the last few days blaming the riots on everything from racial inequality, to poverty, to cutbacks in governmental benefits and perceived failures in the delivery of benefits in the growing welfare State that is contemporary England. Instead the Prime Minister zeroed in on a moral collapse as the root cause of the riots.

He opined that Britain's leaders had failed to address a deep moral collapse in the culture. With surprising candor he spoke of "Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort.  Crime without punishment.  Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control".

The Prime Minister continued, noting that "some of the worst aspects of human nature (had been) tolerated, indulged - sometimes even incentivized - by a state and its agencies that in parts have become literally demoralized."

Then, he spoke words which should serve as a wakeup call for much of western culture, "We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong. We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said, about everything from marriage to welfare to common courtesy."

The Prime Minister gave this address before a backdrop of graffiti. He spoke of  a damaged British society that "incites laziness, that excuses bad behavior, that erodes self-discipline, that discourages hard work."

He left no segment of contemporary British culture out of his critique noting that "Moral decline and bad behavior is not limited to a few of the poorest parts of our society. In the highest offices, the plushest boardrooms, the most influential jobs, we need to think about the example we are setting."

The UK Catholic Herald weighed in on the riots in an insightful piece written by Francis Phillips entitled "Christianity is no longer the soul of public life: that's why anarchy broke out last week."

She wrote, "Everyone in the media has a different explanation for the roots of the recent riots in London and elsewhere. Actually, as Christians know, it is very simple. It is encapsulated in a quotation from a French cleric, Cardinal Pie. 

"When Christianity is no longer the soul of public life, of public power, of public institutions, then Jesus Christ deals with this country in the manner he is there dealt with. He continues to give His grace and blessings to the individuals who serve Him, but He abandons the institutions, the powers which do not serve Him. And the institutions, the kings, the nations become like shifting sand in the desert; they fall away like the autumn leaves which are gone with the wind."

There are crisis moments in the history of Nations when leaders rise to the occasion and, in so doing, become very different people than they were before the crisis. Perhaps that is what has happened to Prime Minister David Cameron. His insights bear serious consideration by leaders throughout the western world.

The United States of America is in a moral crisis. Some insist it is simply an economic crisis. They seek to separate moral/social and economic issues. However, the economic problems we face are just some of the bad fruit being borne as a result of the loss of our National moral compass.
 
As we approach the 2012 election in the United States we will choose a President - and a significant number of Senate seats and other offices. We need men and women in public service who are morally coherent and courageous.

The truths taught by the Catholic Church, and revealed within the common patrimony of the Natural Law, are being rejected in an age struggling under what was called by Pope Benedict XVI a "Dictatorship of Relativism."

The most egregious example is the rejection of the truth concerning the dignity and inviolability of every human life. The fundamental Right to Life is taught by the Natural Law and confirmed by medical science. Yet it is denied by those in control of the power of the State, and the blood of the innocent flows.

The attacks on true marriage are also increasing in their severity. We are being asked to accept the rulings of Judicial Oligarchs and legislative Alchemists who think that they can change the nature of this institution by the stroke of a pen. Their collaborators in political office, some of whom are apostate Catholics, are now beginning to wield the figurative sword of temporal power against us.

As we approach the next election cycle in the United States, we need to elect plain speaking public servants who have the courage to lead. Prime Minister David Cameron should be commended for speaking truth in an age of political sophistry.

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