1. Russia takes Crimea and the U.S. has "no options," instead of considering a variety of meaningful options--will Putin stop with Crimea, Georgia, Chechnya if there is virtually nothing standing in his way?
2. Syrian civil war goes on for almost 3 years and takes 150,000 lives and the U.S. has "few options," while Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, Saudi Arabia seem to have and be exploiting lots of options.
3. "U.S. to give up Web oversight" since other governments have complained over our "unique influence"--well darn it, we invented the Internet, why shouldn't we capitalize on it?
4. Serious "deficit reduction is dead" even though the national deficit continues to grow and threaten the national security of this country, but there are few acknowledged options for politicians that want to get re/elected, except to continue the runaway gravy train.
5. Space exploration to other planets--NASA shelves it--"Space, the final frontier...to boldly go where no man has gone before," but we're not really going!
6. Defense cuts threaten U.S. military as the "U.S. faces a more volatile, more unpredictable world," and even as China ramps up its military budget by 12.2%.
7. Despite the potentially catastrophic impact that a serious cyber attack would have on the U.S. national security and economy, "the U.S. military is not prepared for cyber warfare"-why are we waiting for the proverbial lights to go out?
8. Outsourcing jobs outside the U.S. has already become cliche--with top U.S. Corporations sending more than 2.4 million American jobs overseas between 2002-2011--as our own labor force participation is now at a 30-year low!
I don't understand what has happened to our national resolve to succeed, to lead, to be a good example in the world.
Why are we in global retreat--instead of steadfastly protecting and growing our national strategic interests in every domain?
We are innovators, entrepreneurs, skilled in every worldly affair, and lovers of freedom and human rights for all, yet we have become gun shy, afraid, and reticent to be ourselves and do what we do best--which is to do what's right, what needs to be done, and to be global leaders in progress toward the future.
If we can't do this, if we have just given up, if we have become ostriches with our heads in the sand--then we haven't just given up on this or that or the other thing--but we have given up on being the U.S. of A.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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