Why are we turning away? Why are we forgetting who we are? What we value? What, at least, used to be important to us? The principles that we held so dearly, so vital as to make the ultimate sacrifice across multiple generations, to fight and die for, have been utterly abandoned. At best, we have forgotten. At worst, we have made incremental, conscious decisions to choose self enrichment over moral purpose. We no longer know the faces of our forefathers.
Here is just one example among countless:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

For those of us that don’t recognize the poem, the image is hopefully still recognizable, The Statue of Liberty. And the poem, The New Colossus, is the dedication cast on a bronze plaque on the pedestal. Take a moment and read it, then read it again. This used to be us.