Uncommon Commentary #171: The Benighted States of America

In Book I, Chapter 33 of The City of God, Saint Augustine stated that "He [Scipio Nasica, a Roman with a reputation for wisdom] did not consider that republic flourishing whose walls stand, but whose morals are in ruins."  In Chapter 16 of Book II, he wrote of "… moral evils, evils of life and conduct—evils which are so mighty, that, according to the wisest pagans, by them states are ruined while their cities stand uninjured …."  If this doctor of the church was right, as I believe he was, then the USA is just as truly a "failed state" as Pakistan or Somalia.