Come Together

There are probably are few examples in U.S. history where Americans were more divided than we find ourselves now. The American revolution which split the colonists between those loyal to the Crown and those fighting for independence. The Civil War which saw the country cleaved in two and brother turned against brother. The divisiveness of Vietnam. These great divisions, while spread across the centuries, all involved a nation at war or at war with itself.

And, to be sure, there are also times where our nation’s great political parties — Republican and Democratic — as well as our basic ideologies, conservative and liberal, may have found themselves at greater odds with each other. But, with certainty, there have been few, if any, times in our country’s history where the consequences for all Americans driven by the present partisanship have been greater than they are today.

The extinction of the center in American politics, and now it’s popular media of record — to wit, FOX vs MSNBC — has relegated the art and desire for compromise in addressing the nation’s greatest ills very near the realm of treason. Some, indeed those on both sides of the aisle, might find the impasse  in Washington, D.C. welcome given preservation of the status quo means, at a minimum, ceding no ground. Unfortunately for the United States, while it remains frozen in place due to this gridlock, the rest of the world has and will continue to pass us by.

The statistics related to the decline of American competitiveness in relation to numerous emerging countries are stunning. Massive continuing trade deficits, unprecedented debt, a failing education system, a decaying manufacturing base and infrastructure, weak worker productivity as compared to much weaker economies are all now structural in nature and threaten both our livelihoods and place in the world.

C'mon. Get the lead out.

We are faced with a crisis in confidence akin to that of the late 1970′s — the years of “malaise” — only this time, we lag, rather than lead, the world in fundamental competitive ingredients to work our way out of it.

True to form, the United States cannot and will not act to improve its competitive standing until or unless a crisis of such proportion emerges that it threatens our very way of life. Call it Pearl Harbor syndrome. In 2011, Americans will come to realize that while it’s leaders remain mired in political gridlock in Washington, our standard of living relative to our competitors continues to decline. We will, quite literally, be working for China. It is not until a critical mass of Americans come to this realization and demand  our “leadership” in Washington break the gridlock to reach reasonable compromises that we will see action for the good of all.

Call it what you want, we’ve borrowed our way into socialism

If the recent debate over healthcare has done anything, it’s finally brought to the forefront of American consciousness that, like it or not, the United States is on a slow and steady path toward socialism-lite.    Essentially, a “Europeanization” of America. 

Interestingly, Barack Obama and his policies are not solely responsible for this trend.  This drift has been occuring for some time.   However, there is little doubt his efforts are accelerating it.  From his unguarded comment during the Presidential campaign that it was “time to spread the wealth around” to his stubborn and headlong drive toward a full nationalization of health care, we are seeing in plain sight that elections, indeed, do have their consequences.

In the end, though, if Americans are looking for the culprit driving America inexorably toward socialist governance and greater government involvement in our lives, they need look no further than the mirror.  Unlike previous generations of Americans, the post WWII baby boom generations have over borrowed, over spent, over consumed, over eaten, and lived with such excess in the pursuit of an increasingly illusive  American consumer dream such  that there isn’t an enterprise in existence large enough to bail them out.  

Or is there?  With a national debt now at almost $13 trillion and rising, the federal government is certainly doing its level best to borrow and bankroll the spending habits of a population that is so far overextended in the way of a debt-driven lifestyle, there is no turning back.  Our solutions to the crisis of overspending?  Spend even more.  Stimulus packages,  jobs bills, bank bailouts, guaranteed health care, and  foreclosure protection for those who bought way beyond their means.

Reducing the U.S.’s annual borrowing and long term debt requires something that most recent generations of Americans no longer carry in their lexicon, the word “sacrifice.”  And because there is little to no willingness to sacrifice on a national or personal level, the sacrifice that’s coming, whether we like it or not, will involve a collective ceding of rights and control over basic elements of our lives, a higher tax burden, less purchasing power, the nationalization of basic services like health care, and just like our friends in Europe  –  inevitably a lower standard of living.

Welcome to the beginning of the decline of America as we know it.