A Decade of Self-Delusion

[Danno 1,228]

A Decade of Self-Delusion

by Patrick J. Buchanan (more by this author)

Updated 12/29/2009 ET

About the first decade of what was to be the Second American Century, the pessimists have been proven right.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States began the century producing 32 percent of the world's gross domestic product. We ended the decade producing 24 percent. No nation in modern history, save for the late Soviet Union, has seen so precipitous a decline in relative power in a single decade.

The United States began the century with a budget surplus. We ended with a deficit of 10 percent of gross domestic product, which will be repeated in 2010. Where the economy was at full employment in 2000, 10 percent of the labor force is out of work today and another 7 percent is underemployed or has given up looking for a job.

Between one-fourth and one-third of all U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared in 10 years, the fruits of a free-trade ideology that has proven anything but free for this country. Our future is being outsourced -- to China.

While the median income of American families was stagnant, the national debt doubled.

The dollar lost half its value against the euro. Once the most self-sufficient republic in history, which produced 96 percent of all it consumed, the U.S.A. is almost as dependent on foreign nations today for manufactured goods, and the loans to pay for them, as we were in the early years of the republic.

What the British were to us then, China is today.

Beijing holds the mortgage and grows impatient as we endlessly borrow on equity and refuse to begin paying it down. The possibility exists of an eventual run on the dollar or even a U.S. debt default.

Who did this to us? We did it to ourselves.

We sold ourselves a lot of snake oil about the Global Economy, interdependence, free trade and "it doesn't make any difference where goods are produced." The George W. Bush Republicans ran up the deficit with tax cuts, two wars and a splurge in social spending to rival the guns-and-butter of the Great Society.

Abandoning its role as the fellow who comes and takes away the punch bowl when the party's getting good, the Fed kept the money flowing fast and free, creating the tech bubble that burst in Y2K and the stock and housing bubble that burst at decade's end.

To pull us back from the cliff's edge, over which we were headed a year ago, the Fed doubled the money supply, while the administration ran up deficit spending to the highest level since World War II.

Unlike World War II, however, there is no end in sight to these deficits.

The stock market, which flat-lined over the decade, had to surge 50 percent in 2009 to retrieve the worst losses since the Depression.

Everyone, it seems, except for Washington bureaucrats and Wall Street, for whom the bonuses never seem to stop, has been hammered by the sinking home values and shrinking portfolios.

After Sept. 11, the nation was united behind a president as it had not been since Pearl Harbor. But instead of focusing on the enemies who did this to us, we took Osama bin Laden's bait and plunged into a war in Iraq that bled and divided us, alienated Europe and the Arab world, and destroyed the Republican Party's reputation as the reliable custodian of national security and foreign policy.

The party paid -- with the loss of both houses in 2006 and the presidency in 2008 -- but the nation has not stopped paying.

With nearly 200,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and another 30,000 more on the way, al-Qaida is now in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa, while the huge U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq serves as its recruiting poster.

Again, it is not a malevolent fate that has done this to us. We did it to ourselves. We believed all that hubristic blather about our being the "greatest empire since Rome," the "indispensable nation" and "unipolar power" advancing to "benevolent global hegemony" in a series of "cakewalk" wars to "end tyranny in our world."

After a decade of self-delusion and self-indulgence, we must stop deceiving ourselves. As Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, the "can-do" nation that won World War II in Europe and the Pacific in less than four years, that put a man on the moon in the same decade JFK said we would, is history.

We have a government that cannot balance its books, defend its borders or win its wars. And what is it now doing? Drafting another entitlement program as we are informed that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds have unfunded liabilities in the trillions.

At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the question is not whether we will preside over the creation of a New World Order, but whether America's decline is irreversible.

Edited December 29, 2009 by Danno

[Jasman0717 9]

I read an article a while back and wish I could find it again. It talked about birth rates in western nations and how they have declined to the point that the civilization of that nation most likey won't survive. It also talked about the birth rates of Muslims and predicted that the world would be Muslim controled within the next 100 years because of the birth rates far exceed other portions of society. Even Catholics can't keep up

[Dan J 277]

Some people can't handle prospect that America will go into the future not as The leading nation, but as a leading nation. A postion shared by China, Russia and the EU.

[Peikko 1,575]

Some people can't understand that an ever increasing birth rate is not the predictor for a successful civilization. Some people have an unnatural obsession with this notion that 'islamification' is not only inevitable but somehow demonic. Mind you, some people do have an ability to seize on simplistic explanations of extremely complicated phenomena. Just sayin'.

[Jasman0717 9]

Some people can't understand that an ever increasing birth rate is not the predictor for a successful civilization. Some people have an unnatural obsession with this notion that 'islamification' is not only inevitable but somehow demonic. Mind you, some people do have an ability to seize on simplistic explanations of extremely complicated phenomena. Just sayin'.

I will look for the study again, it was a very interesting read and had nothing about demonizing a way of life or faith, it was just stating declining birth rates in western nations as the birth rates for Muslim communities continue to rise. At least I am 'some people' and not an a-hole

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

And we keep on giving up leadership focusing on the days past rather than starting to think of the future. The energy revolution, for example, is going on full speed and we're not even near the playing field let alone leading the game.

[Peikko 1,575]

I will look for the study again, it was a very interesting read and had nothing about demonizing a way of life or faith, it was just stating declining birth rates in western nations as the birth rates for Muslim communities continue to rise. At least I am 'some people' and not an a-hole

It was a general comment. My point really was, even if that is true (and, the complication being that there is no knowing how long birth rates in other countries will continue to rise, nor which, if any religious community will continue to dominate the cultures of these communities) does it matter? As long as a religious community does not suppress those who do not belong to it, it really does not matter what the 'dominant' religion in a region/community is, does it?

[DEDixon 39]

I read an article a while back and wish I could find it again. It talked about birth rates in western nations and how they have declined to the point that the civilization of that nation most likey won't survive. It also talked about the birth rates of Muslims and predicted that the world would be Muslim controled within the next 100 years because of the birth rates far exceed other portions of society. Even Catholics can't keep up

more and more, because americans aren't having babies, the nation is starting to be made up of immigrants and this is why i say: bring back the draft.

either the draft or something other kind of "service to america" thing.

example, if a couple has 2 kids, that is not growth for america. the couple replaced themselves only - it is a wash. if they have 1 kid, it is even worse from a growth point of view. to grow, we need immigrants so they are coming!!!! other developed nations have the same issue.

i heard but never looked into it, but someone said one of the reasons the roman empire fell was that only a few held any allegiance to it. with all the immigrants coming now and more to come in the future, we need some sort of something to preserve what america stands for (spin this any way anyone wants, but i think my point is clear).

too many immigrants come here just to use america for in their heart, they still hold allegiance to their homeland rather than america. if america is to survive long term, we need something to instill american values in new citizens and their children.

dual citizenship should be outlawed.

[Dan J 277]

more and more, because americans aren't having babies, the nation is starting to be made up of immigrants and this is why i say: bring back the draft.

either the draft or something other kind of "service to america" thing.

example, if a couple has 2 kids, that is not growth for america. the couple replaced themselves only - it is a wash. if they have 1 kid, it is even worse from a growth point of view. to grow, we need immigrants so they are coming!!!! other developed nations have the same issue.

i heard but never looked into it, but someone said one of the reasons the roman empire fell was that only a few held any allegiance to it. with all the immigrants coming now and more to come in the future, we need some sort of something to preserve what america stands for (spin this any way anyone wants, but i think my point is clear).

too many immigrants come here just to use america for in their heart, they still hold allegiance to their homeland rather than america. if america is to survive long term, we need something to instill american values in new citizens and their children.

dual citizenship should be outlawed.

How nationalistic of you, Are you suggesting that America is an empire that must be preserved?

[DEDixon 39]

And we keep on giving up leadership focusing on the days past rather than starting to think of the future. The energy revolution, for example, is going on full speed and we're not even near the playing field let alone leading the game.

that just means that is it more important to you than it is to our gov't.

it also means there is still a whole lot of oil to go around and so i'm guessing our gov't is thinking that there is no hurry to reinvent energy. again, i'm only guessing.

[DEDixon 39]

How nationalistic of you, Are you suggesting that America is an empire that must be preserved?

no, but a lot of people are more comfortable with what they know than what they don't know. i'm not thinking so deeply, trust me (ask Madame Cleo, she knows ), so take it for what it is and go with it or don't bother. i don't have time for deep online arguments.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

that just means that is it more important to you than it is to our gov't.

it also means there is still a whole lot of oil to go around and so i'm guessing our gov't is thinking that there is no hurry to reinvent energy. again, i'm only guessing.

The economy of the 21st century doesn't run on oil and coal. I think that much is clear - even to our government. But rather than driving innovation and laboring towards a modern and sustainable energy mix, we just keep on pretending that we can catch up later with the other developed nations that are already in the middle of the transformation, getting their economies fit for the future. What we're really doing, is falling further and further behind.

[AlHayatZween 2]

Between one-fourth and one-third of all U.S. manufacturing jobs have disappeared in 10 years, the fruits of a free-trade ideology that has proven anything but free for this country. Our future is being outsourced -- to China.

Don't often like what Buchanan writes, but I agree with some of what he says here...

[DEDixon 39]

big dog, i agree with you.

take a look, the title says it all really.

More talk than progress in U.S. energy policy

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../BUP21B6I2N.DTL

[alienlovechild 75]

more and more, because americans aren't having babies, the nation is starting to be made up of immigrants and this is why i say: bring back the draft.

either the draft or something other kind of "service to america" thing.

i heard but never looked into it, but someone said one of the reasons the roman empire fell was that only a few held any allegiance to it. with all the immigrants coming now and more to come in the future, we need some sort of something to preserve what america stands for (spin this any way anyone wants, but i think my point is clear).

too many immigrants come here just to use america for in their heart, they still hold allegiance to their homeland rather than america. if america is to survive long term, we need something to instill american values in new citizens and their children.

How is some forced service going to engender more loyalty to America? It will either end up as some joke of make work projects or having a lot of temporary troops waiting to get out of uniform. You are right about the fall of Roman Empire but the Romans also ended up with a lot Germanic tribesmen in their army doing the fighting while the rest of Rome got soft and weak.

First generation immigrants may have ties to their nations but the second generation is usually assimilated.