The news is grim, and you don't have to be a newshound to know that. It seems that all trend lines are pointing in the wrong direction -- whether it's economic disaster (domestic and international), mounting death totals in Afghanistan (and even Iraq), London in flames, the promise of the Arab Spring becoming a summer of bloody stalemates, a drought-stricken American heartland, and on and on. We're not in complete panic yet, but most of us are starting to feel mighty queasy. There's a real sense out there, even amongst people not prone to hyperbole, that perhaps our nation's best days are behind us. I guess it matters how you define "best days," but I, for one, am not buying it.
To be sure, there are millions of Americans who are struggling for the basic necessities of life: keeping a roof over their heads, food on the table, their children on the path to an education. Their pain and needs must be a priority, for elected officials setting policy and for those of us who can afford to lend a hand. But when faced with the challenges of the present, we cannot allow ourselves to be so demoralized that we lose the strength of perspective that can lead us to a more hopeful future.
One of the hallmarks of American history is that, by and large, we have been moving in the right direction. We have had a remarkable streak of facing down dark times and emerging in a better place. I think that leads us to underestimate how difficult and perilous some moments in our history actually were. In school, when we study major stress points in our country's development, the focus often is on how they were resolved. Sure, Valley Forge was a tough slog, but George Washington was able to rally the troops for a miraculous defeat of the mighty British. The evils of slavery had to be purged through the bloody Civil War, but Lincoln was able to rescue the Union. There was a time when women couldn't vote, children worked in dangerous factories, our food wasn't inspected, and a host of other social ills that led to a flurry of progressive legislation. Pearl Harbor launched our country into a triumphant global defeat of evil regimes. An era of lynchings beget a civil rights movement. The Soviets beat us into space, but we beat them to the Moon. The terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis now only gets a few lines in a textbook, just part of the story of us winning the Cold War. It's hard to get young people to feel the piercing uncertainty surrounding the Watergate scandal because, as we all know know, Nixon resigned and the country was able to move on. Crisis averted, problem solved. But during these moments and so many others, a successful outcome didn't always appear at the time to be a guarantee.
This is not to say that we're anywhere close to a perfect union, or that we haven't taken steps backwards as well as forwards. It's just that hopefully we can look at what ails us now and see how we were able to conquer problems of the past. And the reason why I think we can do it again is because I have a deep and abiding faith in the American people.
One of the greatest joys of my charmed life is that I have been able to travel to every corner of this country, and I am almost always amazed by the intelligence, work ethic and sense of fairness of my fellow citizens. We are a generous people, a hopeful people and a decent people. I believe, and I think the polls show, that if Washington were really representing the peoples' will now, a lot of things would be different.
Most Americans believe in true compromise, a balanced approach to solving our budget. I think even many wealthy Americans are embarrassed by our national income disparity. We wonder why we have to be the world's policeman, shouldering almost all the costs alone, when we can't afford to build bridges and schools back home. We want to help out the least amongst us, take care of our seniors and keep our water and air clean, but we know that costs money. We just want to know how we can afford what we need without burdening ourselves with too much debt.
The problem is that Washington isn't working. That's not necessarily new. There were many times throughout our history when it didn't work. But ultimately, something came along to make it work. Sometimes the change came in the form of a rising political leader, like a Teddy Roosevelt or a Harry Truman. And sometimes a groundswell of change came from the people, like the Civil Rights movement. It's unclear from where the break in this unhealthy stasis will come. But it must come, and I believe it will.
Politicians and the chattering media class in their air-conditioned studios need to get out of their bubbles and talk to real Americans, who are doing their best everyday to make tough decisions in their own lives. They should talk to families in food lines, an unemployed worker going to community college to learn a new skill, a police chief trying to make a budget and the millions of other kinds of Americans who are living in reality. We have enough wealth in this nation, in terms of human and physical resources, to move toward solving our problems. What we need is a lot more leadership than we're getting. But I think our history shows that if we don't get leadership soon, we the people will demand it ourselves.
In the meantime, there is this: for too long, the world has overestimated what America's military and economic strength could accomplish. As we've learned, there are limits to such power. Maybe it's not so bad now to have the world underestimating us.
Dan Rather is the correspondent for "Dan Rather Reports," which airs Tuesdays on HDNet at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET. Follow "Dan Rather Reports" on Facebook and Twitter.
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Dan, I share optimism, philosophically, in goodness of individual, but you know there's a group above the government stage set with no intention to save a single person 'chit out of luck', nor anyone who's not solvent.
A long-term plan to 'deal' with long-time understanding as automation/computers shrink workforce - tens of millions of workers+families dispensable, profits skyrocket. Simple logic - global alliances tighten global grip. The messy fleshy part has begun.
A systematic starving off - decrease population by magnitudes. We're not affordable. They need the world. Slaves are a sloppy necessity.
Hey Dan - Don't worry for the man dying in front of my place before my eyes. I'll care for him. It makes me feel a lot better than your hollow words.
In the past the Americans of old (pre WW2) had a measure of some independence from the rest of the world, we were farmers, factory workers, and oil men.
Today, our Oil is nearly gone and no Natural Gas won't replace it either (not even close).
Today, we don't manufacture much, that is bad, but what is worse is that the workforce lacks the experience and the desire to do those jobs.
Today, our economy depends heavily on government spending, Texas and California are big defense contractor states.
Today, Oil everywhere is becoming harder to get out of the ground, this will cause a rise in the price of Oil that will really limit our capacity to support a growing population and may mandate quite the opposite.
Thanks Dan, and I hope we do get some kind of Carbon-Eating Free Energy source right away.
The solutions are clear - balanced trade, import certificates, Glass-Steagall and the rest of the New Deal, and most importantly a low 100 dollar per person limit on political contributions.
Only politicians and journalists who place these on top of their agenda are on the right side. The rest create confusion and make the problems worse.
Wake up America and put aside your prejudices for just enough time to figure out who it is that has you angry, broke, incarcerated, unemployed, more productive for the same amount of money and confused. Figure out what is in the best interests of not only yourself but your neighbors. Do you even know your neighbors?
If you are scared of facts and Al Jazeera do not bother. You are another reason why Mr. Rather is wrong.
Mr. Rather's generation is the reason why our nation is coming apart at the seams. His generation and his demographic (rich middle aged and elderly white males) are the reason why we are increasing the pain on Americans who are not members of the elite one percent. My proof is the study found at http://www.slate.com/id/2266025/entry/2266026.
(Part II above this comment)
Alot of us NEVER stopped betting on America in the first place.
http://www.slate.com/id/2266025/entry/2266026
Try this one too unless you are terrified by the words Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011812102710529250.html
Will you please explain to me why the Bush/Obama era tax cuts have not created ONE JOB?
The corporations are sitting on untold trillions of dollars. The job creators are only creating jobs for people who do not live in the United States. Right? Was NAFTA good for our country? Please inform yourself.
See, I am one of you—I am one of your children, your son, your brother, and your friend. Behold how sleek and fat I have become—and all because I am just one of you, and your friend. Behold how rich and powerful I am—and all because I am one of you—shaped in your way of life, of thinking, of accomplishment..……..am I not just one of you?….Am I not the living image of what each of you may hope to be, would wish to be, would desire for his own son? Would you destroy the glorious incarnation of your own heroic self? If you do, then, “says Enemy, “you destroy yourselves—you kill the thing that is most gloriously American, and in so killing, kill yourselves.”
He lies! And now we know he lies!. He is not gloriously, or in any other way, ourselves. He is not our friend, our son, our brother. And he is not American! For, although he has a thousand familiar and convenient faces, his own true face is old as Hell.
Look about you and see what he has done.
I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found……I think the true discovery of our spirit, of our people, of our mighty and immortal land is yet to come. I think the true discovery of our own democracy is still before us……
I think the enemy is here before us, too…….I think the enemy is here before us with a thousand faces, but I, we, know that all his faces wear one mask. I think the enemy is single selfishness and compulsive greed. I think the enemy is blind, but has the brutal power of his blind grab…….
I think the enemy deceives us with false words and lying phrases, saying:
“See, I am one of you— (con't)
Yes, America will go on. In the long sweep of history, maybe for the better.
For the rich, like Mr. Rather, waiting things out with a smile is easy on the blood pressure and takes little muscle. As accumulations of wealth become more concentrated and permanent, that wait can extend comfortably through ever more generations. For the rest of us, the imagined beneficence of the long run means little to nothing. We live right now in the boiling-over cauldron of the present. Neither we nor our children nor their children are secure. We can't sit back with a mai-tai. We are not tourists here; the world is happening to us in the here and now.
We have no castles from which to sit back and watch the grand sweep. What we are seeing is ourselves and our children and people like us swept away. We live now.
What Mr. Rather will never admit publicly is that our government and largest industries are run by people who are either utterly corrupt, incompetent, or both.
They have looted and destroyed our country. The average citizen has no recourse to correct this except through some sort of swift and violently imposed restructuring. I would say a return to law and order but that's impossible. The congress; the legal profession and the judges have screwed up our "justice system" beyond recognition. There is no such thing as "justice" in America and Mr. Rather says the country is going in the right direction. Those are the words of someone pimping for a gang of criminals.
We have been led by fools, incompetents, psychopaths, liars and thieves for generations. The American people vote people into office the same way they buy soap: the one that has the best advertising not understanding that, essentially, all advertising is a lie.
Mr. Rather is in the advertising business. Nothing he says can be trusted because he's paid very well by liars and thieves to speak for them. If he's a rational man, even he couldn't believe what he says.
All the good has been killed. There's nothing left but foul scraps because you're not permitted to create the good.
The result of all these policies is a defunded government, an ongoing and deepening environmental crisis, less jobs, more income inequality, less political stability, and a number of industries that have lost their competitive edge. If we don't win the battle of ideas, then these troubles will only worsen.