Optimism for America’s Future

I was watching a month old video of CNN’s Global Public Square hosted by Fareed Zakaria. (it’s the Sept 12 program which can be downloaded for free) He convened a panel consisting of Kathleen Parker, a nationally syndicated columnist and co-host of a CNN talk show, Bernard Henri Levi, a French philosopher, Dan Senor of the Council on Foreign Affairs and Christia Freeland, a Global Editor at Large for Roiters. They were discussing the news of the week and got into a debate on the Tea Party. I believe the consensus was that the lower middle class feels threatened and the Tea Party is the response to their fears. These threats range from the irrational that a Muslim population of less than 1% will somehow impose Sheria Law on all the population of the US to real discomfort with the fact that at some future date the majority of the population of the United States will no longer be white and that the middle class, not only in the US but also in Europe, is now having to compete with a billion people from the emerging economies. I believe this last fear is very rational. Whereas globalization has improved the condition of the educated and wealthy and has had minimal impact on the lesser paid workers in service jobs that cannot be outsourced, many of the higher paid, less value added jobs have gone overseas and may not return.

The world has changed dramatically and we need to recalibrate and figure out how we will continue to succeed in this new setting. Bernard Henri Levi pointed out that the United States has faced great challenges in the past citing the 1930s and 60s as examples and has found its way and he, a Frenchman, was confident that it will again. He said (and I paraphrase) that what is going on in our country is a National brainstorming session where ideas are presented, discussed and a path forward determined and that in any good brainstorming session you must have on the table a full gamete of ideas ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. He was very confident that as we have done in the past, we will find the right path again.

I tend to agree with him and feel confident that the rhetoric about “second amendment (the right to bear arms) remedies” and against Muslims is just at one extreme end of ideas in this National brainstorming session. In fact, if I allow myself to get really optimistic, I think that the fact that we can have such a debate, in the long run may strengthen our democracy as we will have considered all alternatives, including the ridiculous and have chosen the path that will not only lead to continued success, but is consistent with the fundamental principles that have made ours a great nation.