Matthew Yglesias on the source of America’s strength:
Winning the second world war entailed building a lot of tanks and ships and warplanes and nuclear bombs. But the reason we won the war is that in the 150 years before the war, we’d gone about building the most prosperous society in human history.
The question I have these days is whether we have a government and citizenry that are capable of building a society that continues to build prosperity for the next 150 years. Like Michael O’Hare, I have my doubts.
September 1, 2010 at 5:36 pm
What scares me the most is that we appear to be in the middle of a changing society that has somehow managed to throw reason and critical thinking out the window and is voting into office politicians who will continue to destroy the country by doing the bidding of the very wealthy. How these millions of Americans can be convinced to vote against their own best interests baffles me.
September 1, 2010 at 9:34 pm
I agree completely Rafe. I certainly have my doubts as well. Our government seems to reward failure and punish success. It puts obstacles in front of entrepreneurs and new businesses. It rewards companies who lobby the most effectively with favored government treatment or regulations. It encourages companies to send jobs overseas by oppressive tax rates and burdensome regulations. It does not invest money in creating new industry, but spends it on a temporary job that will be gone as soon as the money runs out. As Cameron said, reason and critical thinking are conspicuously absent. Hopefully, that will change this November.
September 2, 2010 at 12:22 am
The one thing I’m certain of is that it won’t change this November, regardless of the results of the election.