This piece originally appeared in the Peoria Journal Star
America remains the strongest and most influential country in the world. However, according to a recent poll, 58 percent of Americans don't believe it. Who could blame them?
America has had a rough go in recent years. We're fighting two tough wars and climbing out of the worst financial downturn since the Great Depression. Our political life has the look and feel of a train wreck. No wonder pundits trumpet America's decline, insisting our best days are behind us.
But they're not. At least they don't have to be.
Let's start with America's clear advantages. Our military is the envy of the world. We spend more on our armed forces than the rest of the world combined. Include the militaries of our closest allies, and we account for 75 percent of global military spending. We are well positioned to stand strong in a hostile world.
Our economy still is nothing to sneeze at. One-quarter of the world's economy is generated by the United States. Throw in our friends around the globe, and it's about half of the world's economy. That's a lot of prosperity in friendly hands.
These realities add up to a simple truth: America's fundamentals are in good shape. Think back to the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. They lost games here and there, but their fundamentals were rock solid. Hence their membership in the professional basketball pantheon.
But there's a catch. It doesn't matter how good your fundamentals are if your game plan is out of date. That's why we're feeling the pinch. The 21st century is full of exciting opportunities and terrifying challenges, and there are some basics we need to understand to succeed.
After a decade in Afghanistan, we should realize that military power buys a lot -- like preventing world wars -- but not everything, and it doesn't do so quickly. After an administration that insisted other countries line up behind us, we should realize that they can say "no." Like it or not, major threats like terrorism require us to make common cause with others.
Meanwhile, after far too many years of living beyond our means, we risk committing the one sin that could truly undermine our place in the world: piling up mountains of national debt. We need to rethink our military methods and diplomatic strategies. We need a social safety net that allows Americans to take risks without creating massive deficits. And we need new rules that prevent hocus-pocus on Wall Street.
But we can make these painful adjustments from a place of strength. A revamped playbook is in our reach. As we celebrate Independence Day, let's not spend too much time looking back. Let's have the courage to look forward.