1/1/11

Hope Not Delusion

The assumption that our country will eventually bounce back, as it had always done in the past, raises hopes, a good thing in these troubled times; but, realistically, we must guard against our hopes turning into wishful thinking.

To begin with, the past generations that bounced back no longer exist; nor have their strength and values devolved down to us intact, if at all. The social and political fabric of our generation, for better or worse, is quite of a different sort.

Also different, very different, is today’s globalized world. Our economic competitors are far more formidable than those of past generations; and given our dismal K-12 public education, government corruption, Wall Street rip-offs, a skyrocketing national debt, decades of living beyond means, high unemployment, high crime rate, low productivity, open-ended wars, social divisiveness, distrust of institutions, horde of parasitical lawyers, talk-show buffoons —the list is long—it does not appear that we are about to bounce back any time soon.

Our once mighty American eagle might soar yet again, but it cannot take flight on broken wings.

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