Why the U.S. will never recapture its greatness

Friedman contends U.S. administrations have played a vital role in generating growth by maintaining the rule of law, promulgating regulations that incentivise risk-taking and prevent recklessness, educating the work force, building infrastructure and funding scientific research. This is, at best, only partly correct. In a realistic sense, it is only individuals who act and make decisions, who adhere to the law, take risks and learn better ways.

The American people, though beguiled by the vain promises of democracy, have not forsaken their political culture. Rather, vetocracy is a backlash directed at condescending elites for their continued misreading of their national narrative. The Tea Party’s apocalyptic ‘Down With Everything’ is a desperate and crude but legitimate polemic designed to elevate historical qualms and move beyond nostalgic non-remedies, like fiddling with institutional rules, to the all-or-nothingness that defines life, liberty and happiness. Combative conservatives seek to destroy government because the political establishment cannot inspire the country to transcend it.

If Jefferson’s “vessel in which we are all embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world” is to achieve its aim, those at the helm must confront, unapologetically, the duplicitous and sentimental rendering of the relationship between power, freedom and responsibility. However seemingly empowered and well-intentioned, politicians cannot take responsibility for individuals taking personal responsibility for their choices. The trade-off between radical liberalism and the public interest is, in the end, of no lasting salience, since social order, economic prosperity and the like all ultimately derive from the moral self.

Is not this shocking political reality the true test of American renown?