ECONOMICS |
EDUCATION |
ENVIRONMENT |
FOREIGN POLICY |
POLITICS |
OPINION |
TRADE
U.S. CITIES:
The American 21st Century
Victor Davis Hanson
The current debt, recession, wars and political infighting have depressed Americans into thinking they soon will be supplanted by more vigorous rivals abroad. Yet this is an American fear as old as it is improbable.
In the 1930s, the Great Depression supposedly marked the end of freewheeling American capitalism. The 1950s were caricatured as a period of mindless American conformity, McCarthyism and obsequious company men.
By the late 1960s, the assassinations of
At the same time, other nations, we were typically told, were doing far better.
In the late 1940s, with the rise of a postwar
Mao Zedong took power in
By the early 1980s,
At the beginning of the 21st century, the
Now
As we enter this new decade, we are currently being lectured that
Two symptoms of all this doom and gloom are constant over the decades. First, America typically goes through periodic bouts of neurotic self-doubt, only to wake up and snap out of it. Indeed, indebted Americans are already bracing for fiscal restraint and parsimony as an antidote to past profligacy.
Second, decline is relative and does not occur in a vacuum. As Western economic and scientific values ripple out from
In that regard, America integrates immigrants and assimilates races and ethnicities in a way
The American Constitution has been tested over 223 years. In contrast,
In short, a nation's health is not gauged by bouts of recession and self-doubt, but by its time-honored political, economic, military and social foundations. A temporarily ill-seeming America is nevertheless still growing, stable, multiethnic, transparent, individualistic, self-critical and meritocratic; almost all of its apparently healthy rivals in fact are not.
("
Available at Amazon.com:
Hot Time in the Old Town: The Great Heat Wave of 1896 and the Making of Theodore Roosevelt
American Insurgents, American Patriots: The Revolution of the People
Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.How the Working Poor Became Big Business
Were You Born on the Wrong Continent?: How the European Model Can Help You Get a Life
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
Courage Grows Strong at the Wound
The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America's Foreign Policy
Read the latest political news.
- The American 21st Century
- A Far From Happy New Year
- Defense Is On The Table
- A Leaner and Meaner Defense
- The Good News About Gas
- M.B.A. Hiring Trends Improve in 2010
- Poverty up Sharply in Rust Belt
- The Baby Boomers Turn 65
- Civil War: The Root Cause and the Lost Cause
- Heightened TSA Security Is Necessary to Keep Us Safe
- TSA Has Its Security Priorities in the Wrong Place
- Obama's Pending Assignment: Reconnecting With Hispanics and Latin America
- Spanish Classes Thriving in U.S. Colleges
- First They Came for My Twinkie ...
- As New START Debate Rages, Quiet Nuclear Progress With Russia
- United States Hispanic Population Is Booming
- The Need to Protect Our Aging Workforce
- The Real WikiLeaks Threat
- The Media Get It Wrong on WikiLeaks
- Opening Our Eyes to the Value of Closing Them
- America's Hidden Hunger and What We Can Do About It
- Belt-Tightening for United States Foreign Policy
- Public Perception Masks Stark Health Care Realities
- Global Warming Conference Faces Meltdown
- America's Credibility Deficit
- WikiLeaks Disclosures Not Earth Shattering
- A WikiLeaks Wake-up Call
- WikiLeaks May End Up Helping America
- WikiLeaks and The Invisible Government
- Wikileaks: More Than Just an Embarrassment
- Wikileaks: Undiplomatic Diplomacy
- Will WikiLeaks Hobble U.S. Diplomacy?
- How WikiLeaks Can Make Us Less Free
- Wikileaks: Small Revelations That May Cause a Big Idea to Take Hold
- Hunting Down Anwar al-Awlaki, Public Enemy No. 1
- FDA Cracks Down on Caffeine-Charged Alcoholic Drinks
- The American Dream: Pro and Con
- Four Loko: Boozy Up-and-Down Makes This Loko Loco
- Crossroads on the Path to a More Perfect Union
- The Right Way to Reform Healthcare
- The Future of American Power: Dominance and Decline in Perspective
- Everybody Discriminates in Some Way
- Banks Need to Pay for Foreclosure Shenanigans
- The Distinctly American Tradition of Charity
- Giving Away a Fortune to Keep the American Dream Alive
- Public Service Groups That Are Making a Difference
- Public Service: Citizenship Is More than Paying Taxes and Voting
- Public Service Is the Antidote For Voter Anger
- Raising People's Quality of Life Drives Public Service
- Public Service: Ordinary Americans Changing Communities for the Better
- How to Make a Career in Public Service
- How to Choose the Best Volunteering Option
- Recession Driving Changes in Corporate Philanthropy
- How to Avoid Charity Scams
- The Pros and Cons of Military Service
- Compulsory National Service Would Strengthen American Citizenship
- Compulsory National Service Would Undermine the American Character
- Why China Has a Point About Quantitative Easing
- Out of Play
- Eliminating Poverty: Lesson From Childhood
- Wall Street Had a Meltdown, and All We Got (Besides the Bill) Was an Interminable Argument
- Changing Our Tune to Natural Gas
- Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision Will Warp Policymaking
- Citizens United Decision: Money at Issue Funds Speech Not Candidates
- Education and Wealth: Strongest Predictors of a Long Life
- 'Citizen Journalism' Fad is Not Journalism
- Life's Little Lows Big Part of Going to High School
- Happiness is a Matter of Perspective
- Binge Drinking Numbers Rising
- The Republicans' Bizarre Attacks on Elites
- Joe Klein and Diane Sawyer Tour the Real Reality
- Troubled Times: When Mark Zuckerberg's Generosity Is Not Good Enough
- Why on Earth Does America Want a Stronger Chinese Currency?
- A Nation of Peasants?
- Public Sector Workers Are the New Privileged Elite Class
- Raising Retirement Age Will Help Save Social Security
- Cutting Benefits Isn't the Way to Save Social Security
- How the New Consumer Bureau Will Help You
- Setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- The Truth Behind UFO Sightings and the U.S. Air Force
- American Dream of Home Ownership Has Become a Nightmare
- 5 Traits of the New American Consumer
- Stoned on Righteousness
The American 21st Century
(c) 2010 Victor Davis Hanson, Tribune Media Services, Inc.