What honor have we lost? Here are 3 examples off the top of my head.
- The honor in politicians to do what is right for the country before what is right for themselves
- The honor of individuals to not put their own needs and self interests before the needs of others
- The honor if individuals to be honest in debate and respectful of those who oppose them
Please take the "No one knows what honor has been lost" mantra off the table now that you have a few examples.
Interesting but irrelevant to any lost honor as a nation. Many individuals do put their own interest ahead of others, your top two are the same. The nation does not honor this self centered selfishness in its fundamental premises, nor for that matter has it ever greatly praised them. But many in the nation do, consider libertarianism which is the self ahead of all others, and consider the attitudes of Americans toward welfare and healthcare. I assume you are a conservative and as such are part of the lost honor you note as conservatives argue constantly against the welfare of all as represented in SS and UHC.
This is the land of the individual and there is always going to be conflict between private and public interests, it is curious to me the enormous irony on the right in terms of these issues: regulation is bad, but so are people, so what to do? You can't have honor with laws and regulations and someone to enforce them, that big old bad government. No wonder you righties seem so conflicted.
Is there any genuine loss of 'honor?' Next.
"Of all forms of government and society, those of free men and women are in many respects the most brittle. They give the fullest freedom for activities of private persons and groups who often identify their own interests, essentially selfish, with the general welfare." Dorothy Thompson