The rumors of America’s death have been greatly exaggerated.
Yes, our debt is out of control. The redistribution of wealth under President Obama has been staggering. His policies of government overreach and abuse of power to push the Leftist agenda has been extremely damaging to the United States. Our national security has been weakened. Our enemies are emboldened and our allies no longer trust us and are looking for alternatives in China and/or Russia. Our economy is growing much slower than it should be in this stage of the recovery and almost one hundred million people have left the work force.
The good news is all of this is fixable.
The rise of Russia and China also has been overstated. The bottom line is that both of these economies are founded on an unsustainable principle — one of corruption and top-down planning of economic activity. This has never worked long-term and never will.
There is plenty of talent and entrepreneurship in Russia. The problem is, it can’t blossom and catch fire. Everyone at some point will want their cut. Oligarchs who run monopolies of basic goods and services don’t want their golden oxen gored. So, the competition is snuffed out; unless, you’re a friend of Vlad’s. Then, all is right with your world.
The cops are corrupt. The courts are corrupt. There is no rule of law. In this environment, Russia will never wean itself off of the energy business. It’s just too easy to make and steal really big money.
China, although a much bigger economy, has its own problems. For decades, the Chinese grew their economy through a devalued currency and exports. This worked well for a long time and put great pressure on American and European manufacturing. But China is the low-cost manufacturing center no longer. There are cheaper places to make things. China also harmed its brand with high-profile stories of defective and dangerous products.
The Chinese now have to generate internal, domestic consumption. This is proving to be a difficult task. The Chinese people are used to saving money rather than spending it. The Communist Party also has the problem of millions of workers from the countryside who need jobs. There are only so many ghost cities that can be built. With economic growth slowing dramatically, there is real fear within the government of civil unrest. Just as in Russia, the government made a social contract with the people, let us have power, give up your civil liberties, and you can become wealthy and prosperous. This too worked for a long time. However, now the party is having trouble generating enough growth for the long term to keep up their end of the bargain. The same is happening in Russia.
The simple fact is, this social construct is not sustainable long term. In the end, it just doesn’t work as the human spirit of innovation is destroyed. The crème doesn’t rise to the top, it emigrates to find greener pastures.
This is why I believe the 21st century could be another American century. If we can elect a responsible chief executive, rather than the Marxist social justice warrior we have now, we have a real chance of turning the country around and fixing all of those problems I listed earlier.
Freedom, the rule of law and capitalism does work long-term as a social construct. Immigration, done legally, is a good thing for America. It always has been. It just has to be controlled for the benefit of the country.
If we can get the government out of the way, then we can grow our way out of the debt. We can rebuild the relationships with our allies and secure peace for our children’s future. Evil and aggression, however, must be confronted. There is no alternative.
With the right leadership and vision, America can once again become the shining city on the hill. Let’s make that happen in 2016.
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