Restoration of the United States

Here's an interesting column by Fareed Zakaria. As usual, his topic is how the U.S. can restore its prestige, power, world leadership, and economic dynamism.

What I agree with:

*It's time for the U.S. to stop living in fear of terrorists, immigrants, and Chinese and Indian workers.

* Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are despicable fearmongers.

* Taking in Mexican immigrants is essential to both our economy and our image.

* Showing acceptance toward our Muslim citizens is essential to combating terrorism.

* The U.S. is certainly capable of quickly bouncing back from its current slump.

* A "can-do" attitude of optimism and pragmatic problem-solving will yield far greater rewards than a fearful, "hunker-down" attitude of paranoia and pessimism.


Some choice quotes:

* "For the right, illegal immigrants have become an obsession. The party of free enterprise has dedicated itself to a huge buildup of the state's police powers to stop people from working."

* "Bill Clinton's historical realignment of [the Democratic] party—toward the future, markets, trade and efficiency—is being squandered[.]"

* "[T]he strategy we have adopted against so many troublesome countries over the last few decades—sanction, isolate, ignore, chastise—has simply not worked."

* "[America] has thrived because it has kept itself open to the world—to goods and services, ideas and inventions, people and cultures. This openness has allowed us to respond fast and flexibly in new economic times, to manage change and diversity with remarkable ease, and to push forward the boundaries of freedom and autonomy."

* "If we are not terrorized, then in a crucial sense we have defeated terrorism."

* "If America has a core competitive advantage, it is this: every year we take in more immigrants than the rest of the world put together."


But here's some points I disagree with:

* "In any event, it is time to stop bashing George W. Bush."
WRONG. The one huge factor in America's decline that Zakaria fails to mention is the erosion of our democracy and our system of rights and liberties. When the president asserts his right to detain citizens without trial, to wiretap phones without authorization, to torture suspects, and to arrest members of the press who criticize his policies, then the U.S. starts to look indistinguishable from authoritarian China. Which may be one reason why China is now more popular than we are. Bush is directly responsible for the erosion of our democratic system, and this should be noted and remembered long after he's out of office, to make sure the slide doesn't continue.

* "[Iraq needs] a substantially smaller [U.S.] force—about 50,000 troops, which is also a more sustainable level for the long haul."
Ridiculous. Those 50,000 will be even more sitting ducks than the current 200,000. Hopefully Zakaria realizes that a drawdown of our forces is only useful as a temporary measure to make full withdrawal more palatable to the American people.

* "[C]ountries where we have had the confidence to engage—from China to Vietnam to Libya—have shifted course substantially over time."
Not so obvious. Those countries all remain harshly authoritarian. The big difference for China is that it now has the economic muscle to placate its restless citizens, and to build a military big enough to threaten our own. Though I agree that isolation and sanctions are atrocious policies, it's not obvious that uncritical engagement is the exact opposite.

* "The Bush-Rumsfeld model of leadership—through declarations, threats and denunciations—is dead."
Don't look now, but Bush (and Cheney), Putin, Ahmadinejad, and a number of other world leaders apparently don't think its so dead. Neither do the main Republican presidential candidates.

Optimism is good, but it should be a complement to hard-nosed pragmatic realism - not a substitute. Bush's erosion of American democracy and Russia and China's erosion of world democracy cannot be wished away. They should be confronted just as strongly as protectionism, nativism, or any other of the threats we face.