It is not difficult to notice the effects that postmodern thinking has had on our political processes. Due to a number of reasons, cynicism towards the government has exploded since Watergate. People no longer trust their leaders, and oftentimes this distrust is deserved. No longer is it possible for governments around the world to keep secrets from their citizens. The postmodernist skepital stance has helped to bring down the Berlin Wall and other such memorable incidents. Because no one now has an ingrained reverance for authority, venerable institutions must increasingly defend themselves against charges that they are ineffective, irrelevant, or just wrong. The whole culture of grandparents' times, which focused on repect and prestige, has vanished. Moral relevatism or just a plain lack of ethos has caused children today to have higher crime and drug rates than ever before. A permissive culture has developed. American culture especially seems to espose this belief. Founded as a classless society, the United States never really had any true roots. Now even the foundations that we were built on (honesty, hard work, and freedom) seem to be going out the window. There are very few rigid standards left. Nothing seems to matter anymore. Everything is fodder for a joke. Can't we take anything seriously?