She attributes the decline in morality to the passive attitude of the general populace. Furthermore, Himmelfarb observes that, "Public officials in particular shy away from the word immoral, lest they be accused of racism, sexism, elitism, or simply a lack of compassion- (Himmelfarb 8). Nobody wants to rebuke anyone even if the other person commits something that may bring harm to other people. Nobody wants to be thought of as a fundamentalist or a conservative. Another reason for moral decline is that many people do not want to believe that morality even exists. Himmelfarb states, "We rarely question that assumption about moral progress because we are suspicious of the very idea of morality- (7). .
Michael Barone states in, High Anxiety: Americans Are Worried--But Not Over Economics, that what Americans are worried most about today is not the economy or their financial future. What concerns Americans most is the condition of their society (Barone). Crime rate, drug use, illegitimate births, single parent families, divorces, and abortions have all increased exponentially between 1965 and 1980; they continued to increase at the same pace into the nineties and the new millennium. This moral decay, though, cannot be attributed to government neglect. On the contrary, government intervention has paved the way for social movements that contribute to moral decay. Barone cites three reasons of social decline. First is the idea of liberation from established norms. Second is a preference for ambiguity over clarity. The third is a sense of entitlement to desired economic and personal outcomes (Barone).
Melissa Healy, a Los Angeles Times columnist who writes on a broad verity of issues and topics, interviews several people on their opinions of America's moral condition and conducts a national survey of 1,734 people. She found that most people in the United States attribute moral decline to the break up of the family.