It is good to see that well known authors, two of my favourites, publicly agree and disagree on a given issue of national importance. Both agree that America’s fortunes are on a downward spiral, but disagree how past history of national declines may be helpful. While Friedman argues that the decline of the Roman empire is a teachable “moment” lesson for us, Third Party Rising, Krugman Conscience of a Liberal, states that Rome is not the applicable model. From a common sense point of view, I agree with Krugman. Ancient Rome is not Current America, and vice versa. Roman decline is only partially beneficial to us in understaning our curent dilemma. An independent analysis of the causes of our “woes” appears essential to reverse this decline, if that is possible.
I disagree with this statement by Friedman:”Suboptimum [performance of the Washington ruling elite] is OK for oridnary times, but these are not ordinary times.” What is “ordinary” is pure personal conjetcure.
The owner of a professional team will instantly fire its coach for suboptimum performance, whether the times are ordinary or not. Should the owners of this country (us, the people, if you are wondering) accept less than top performnce of our Washington reps, or for that matter, any elected rep?
To those who believe that this country is owned by corporations, the lobbyists, foreign gypysies, . . . ” I ask: Who let it happen? Yes, I thought so too!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.