Robert R. Hoyt Many believe that time has run out on America, that the leading wave of history has begun to pass us by. Drawing analogies between the current state of America and the declining phases of previous cultures, these fatalists believe that we are destined to live out some theory of inevitable cycles or repetitions in history. They locate somewhere in our past a point at which America reached its pinnacle and began its decline. America's fate, however, has not been sealed by any historical imperative.
Men make history through creating, witnessing, and recording significant deeds and events.
At one time, our forebears looked almost exclusively to the past for guidance. Mythical events that had happened in earlier times provided unchanging paradigms for individual and social actions. Having limited knowledge of the world and their place in it, these ancestors did not seek to study or understand history. Instead, they followed what they felt were sacred ways of thinking and acting. In contrast, one of the hallmarks of American thought is our rejection of such deterministic views of historical precedence.