The radio goes silent for a moment, and then a voice comes through, loud and clear.

"Cut my life into pieces/ This is my last resort!"

A thundering guitar strum comes in and the singer continues.

"Suffocation/ No breathing/ Don't give a f--- if I cut my arm, bleeding!"

The song is called "Last Resort" and it is by Papa Roach, a band playing at the sold out "Weenie Roast" concert here in Charlotte this week. "Last Resort" is a chart topper here in Charlotte as well as across the country. Rather than take a simple symptoms-based approach to the song, blindly calling for the banning of such violent songs on public airwaves, let's try to understand why this song resonates so well with the youth of today. What about this song can so many people relate with?

The United States of America was founded around 225 years ago by people with a common philosophy. However, this philosophy was not necessarily a Christian one as so many believe. If there was a so-called "Great Awakening" in the 1740's in this already Christian land, from what were they awakening? No, America was not founded on Christian philosophy. Did not Paul advocate obedience to the Roman government, even as it persecuted Christians for their beliefs? What then would he say about colonists revolting because of unfair taxation? America's Founding Fathers did have a unifying philosophy though. It was the philosophy of John Locke, Adam Smith, and Montesquieu. A philosophy later expanded by Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. Just look at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self evident…" Does this look like a claim to scriptural infallibility? No, it is an a priori statement of a logically based view of man's nature. The view of our Founders was that men form governments for the benefit of the governed, a revolutionary idea in the times of belief in the Divine Right of Kings. Therefore, America was founded in order to serve the utilitarian good of all people (or in any case, all white men).

What then do people commonly believe today? For one thing, we believe in biological determinism, whether genetic or environmental or some combination thereof. If you are born in an abusive household, it isn't your fault when you become an abusive adult. If you can't control any of your impulses, something is wrong with you and medication is the answer. (This thinking is, of course, the impetus behind Ritalin and Prozac sales.) What both political parties, in spite of their rhetoric, lose is individual choice and responsibility. If we cannot control ourselves, we cannot be guilty either. Our legal system is based on the idea that some actions, such as murder, are against natural law and natural law demands just deserts be given. Someone, who murders deserves to have his life taken. It is not a matter of deterring others or keeping them from doing it again, it is what they deserve. When someone is punished, we should never say, "Aw… What a shame that we have to do this to you." We should say, "Now we shall do to you what your actions have forced us to do." Modernism first chipped at this foundation with talk of reformation and deterrence, but post-modernism has swept the foundation away. Values are subjective; maybe the action seemed all right to you because of your upbringing. We have to look at it from your perspective. Now, there is no longer any popular basis for society. Democracy was the dream of utilitarians seeking to please the majority, but in the post-modern era, the only choice is anarchy or tyranny, every man for himself or the strongest man over all others. The moral government is the government that exists.

America's institutions have been crumbling apart for the past hundred years even as she became economically more powerful. First the expatriates after the First World War noticed it, and slowly everyone else became aware too. Science has stripped the bottom away from the radical philosophies supporting our nation. Patriotism is a dream world inhabited by children, adults understand that Iraqi mother's don't want to see their children die in a war either. In the movie called The Patriot this summer, we were shown a sham version of patriotism; a man loses his family and starts a one-man campaign for vengeance. That is not love of country that is simple tribalism. Get even with the headhunters down the path who stole your virgins. Faux spirituality has replaced old-fashioned religious dogma. The purpose of spirituality is not to know truth, but to feel better about your place in life, and feeling good is next to godliness. Both Presidential candidates claim to be very spiritual, in a personal and non-threatening sort of way that will in no way affect their running of the country. The equality of men is supposedly bolstered by the President's assertion that we are all 99.9% genetically identical. Yet, each day another gene is discovered which "controls" a certain behavior, turning men into nothing more than walking bags of chemicals reacting in complex ways. Richard Dawkins tells us we are nothing more than "Selfish Genes." Entertainment has become the only thing still held sacred as we become a nation of hedonists, leaving no pleasure unindulged, burning gallons of gas in our SUV's while talking on a cell-phone while road raging at the other drivers while eating McDonald's while on the Atkin's diet. We want it all fast and cheap; after all, we deserve it. Advertising tells us to consume, and moderation has become a buzzword from a distant age. And why not? Why not indulge? Our society has forgotten the answer to that question. Or perhaps, the old answers don't make sense to us anymore.

Yet, what choice do we have? Our society is based on consumerism, the theory that progressively greater consumption of goods is economically beneficial. PBS has a popular "reality-based " show entitled "1900 House" in which a British family lived the lifestyle of a family at the turn of the past century. A sequel is already in the works. The family, however, could not do make it. Life was too rough without modern conveniences and all the meat in their diet made them sick. We are too well adapted to our modern life to return to previous modes of existence.

It would seem that Western society is doomed. Its philosophical basis no longer stands and everyone subconsciously knows. Teenagers try to find a way to live today and come up with nothing. So they chase conformity at the Gap or give up on society and become Goth or forget the whole thing by drinking or using drugs. We either need to tear down our outmoded institutions or return to previous methods of thinking. Even a religious transformation of America cannot help for two reasons. First, because it is not the just the moral framework of America which is broken, so a return to a moral framework would fail to save government. Second, because having an increased emphasis on religion in order to save society would just be another example of how religion is now used just as another source of comfort and not as a source of truth. The WTO protests were just the start. Expect more vague, splintered protests at all political meetings in the future. Expect more movies about disgruntled workers rebelling like Office Space, American Beauty, and Fight Club. Expect more angry rock bands to dominate the music charts.

The song comes to a close, "Nothing’s alright/ Nothing is fine/ I’m running and I’m crying/ I can’t go on living this way/ Can’t go on/ Living this way/ Nothing’s alright!"