America was founded by Progressives. The moment America forgets itself, and stops being progressive, is the moment it stops moving forward. The moment it stops moving forward is the moment it begins to die. Progressive is to move forward, to not move forward at the rate of international competition is to be regressive. The countries in Central America that conservatives prop up as “welfare states”, to make comparisons with and base their false claims of how awesome the U.S. is doing in fact have more in common with the U.S. than any of the more progressive nations of the world. The path we are on, and have been on for the last 30 years, is one of regression.
There are many dilemmas our nation faces that have no exact right or wrong answer. These are not the problems that do the most harm, yet they seem to be the ones that generate the most attention in the media. The issues at our core witch truly matter and either hold us back or propel us forward into prosperity are often those that are solved with the most simple definition of right and wrong.
• Education
• Healthcare
• Income Disparity
• Infrastructure
• Legal / Prison System
All of these issue should take priority over all other divisions of government spending and concern. With exceptions for defense, but only as to the extent and seriousness the other four are given. The current condition of the most relevant issues concerning the quality of life in America is appalling. Especially as we so arrogantly claim to be the true leaders of the free world. The vast majority of the world is now comprised of free nations and they’re not looking to us for guidance. We are indeed the protectors, but other than militarily, we hardly prove to be the exceptional standard for the rest of the world, socially, financially, or politically.
America has indeed lost her way, but when, why, and how, are not as important as getting set back on the right track. America was the first western democracy, a true experiment. The rest of the free world spent a great deal of the last two centuries catching up with America. Though what has seemingly happened in the new millennium is we no longer rule the world in the sense we think we do. It’s now America that is playing catch up with rest of the free world. Almost every western democracy now in 2012 is more progressive than the U.S. If the last decade has shown us anything, it’s that we no longer are who everyone else is trying to be. Like it or not, America needs to right our own ship by becoming like everyone else in the civilized world.
EXAMPLES OF SUCH EFFORTS:
auto, manufacturing, service, healthcare, fashion, music
We’re the only ones who still believe we’re the greatest nation on earth anymore. We’re the richest, and we have the largest and most powerful military. America is now one power amongst many. Our society and culture needs to fully embrace this, if only to ease, if not speed up the transition. So that maybe one day again, we can be both highly regarded and competitive as we were in yesteryear. This old school realm of belief, born from a lifetimes of arrogance based on superiority leads companies like Ford, to say that no car smaller than the Fiesta can survive in the American markets. Well Ford, we all know how awesome the American auto industry has been doing for the last 25 years, so surely we have nothing to learn from Asia and Europe auto makers. Gas is as high as $4 per gallon still and probably going to keep rising with our dependency on oil, and its pesky habit of being an ultra-demanded limited resource on earth… this commodity profile usually only pushes price in one direction. I believe that a lot of Americans in the future will not be driving cars as much or at all. The ones that do will probably be using vehicles on the more fuel efficient end of the spectrum.
In total global competitiveness the U.S. ranks 48th, behind most of Europe and Asia…
The truth of the matter is this ignorance the old guard still maintains and perpetuates is crippling our nation’s ability to progress, compete, and move forward. Ignorance is at the root of regression and everything that is wrong with America. I still believe we are the greatest nation on earth, not because of what we are now, but because of what we can be.
