It's kinda hard to argue with that logic when you're sitting in a college lecture hall spewing numbers that somebody else wrote.
The disturbing thing about that diatribe was that our culture has changed. Even declined, I'd say. And the last part of his spewage is accurate from the standpoint that we've lost some of what we've had.
We've been emasculated by faggotry that's become acceptable, by having babies outside of wedlock that's become du jour rather than the exception, by looking to the ****ing government for our next handout.
Many of us -- not all, but many -- are incensed at the idea of taking care of oneself. Doomsday preppers are laughed at and portrayed as dumbass bumpkins, while those who are laughing are ill-prepared for the most mundane emergency.
The concept of working hard for one's wages is vilified in exchange for the expectation that many have that the corporations -- as evil and twisted as they are -- exist solely for themselves. (As if those investors who are putting money where their mouths and taking the risks that the hourly-paid employee with all of 3 months on the job couldn't even fathom should actually consider those employees beyond the normal human consideration.)
We are risk-averse. We are afraid of getting hurt, afraid and intolerant of injury, illness or death in pursuit of that goal or that ambition that results in vast advances in science, industry, and technology. As a result, we shut down and watch while others who are more ambitious and more intolerant of their own condition take those risks and leap forward, passing us by.
Wars are no longer allowed to be fought in which we lose people. We are expected to fight "clean" wars in which only the bad guy gets dusted -- and this from a very safe distance. Politicians, the media, and ultimately the people lose the faith because there is no such thing as a "clean" war.
It's hard to criticize Jeff Daniels, the actor, for the words that somebody else wrote.
Much of my own optimism was lost -- I hope not permanently, but who knows -- when that ****ing criminal in my White House was reelected.