Is It Time To Give Up On America?

by: david bozeman | published: 03 10, 2010

The March 8 National Review featured a disturbing profile of a millionaire investor who has -- how else to word it? -- given up on America. In a piece entitled 'Jim Shrugged,' Jim Rogers, who has moved to Singapore and "crackles with paternal pride" at the bi-lingual abilities of his two young daughters, declares "the best advice is to teach your children and grandchildren Mandarin."

To Rogers and a number of other expatriates and economic forecasters, the emergence of Asia, particularly China, as the world's superpower, is not only inevitable but has already happened. The United States is "overleveraged and undercapitalized, and beset on all sides by competitors with sharp elbows and growly stomachs." He compares JFK airport to a third-world facility, along with American roads and bridges and cites the "stunning" state-of-the-art efficiency of Asia.

Even beyond the cold, hard economic projections, one could argue that illegal immigration, a stagnant, government-run education system and political correctness (among other factors) have so diluted our national identity that we are barely distinguishable from the European Union.

So, where does that leave those of us who are not millionaire investors, who will likely never see Asia, much less possess the means to up and move there? What is the future for our children and grandchildren?

We are left with hope. We hitch our wagons to the visionaries, the risk-takers and not to know-it-all prognosticators who bet against their own country.

We find comfort in the perspective of history, namely that much of the wealth enjoyed by the rest of the world was created by American ingenuity. Can one imagine life without Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Disney, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, etc? Furthermore, can one imagine life without America? Perhaps the U.S. could afford 21st Century airports and interstates if the rest of the world didn't depend on our public and private aid every time disaster struck. According to CBSNews.com, of initial aid to Haiti after the earthquake, the U.S. contributed $100 million, while China gave a state-of-the-art, first-world -- drum roll, please -- one million (plus relief workers).

But it is not charity or economic models alone that determine a nation's destiny. America is and will remain the world's dominant power because of our character, embodied in the Constitution and other founding documents. National Review notes that Rogers and other expatriates harbor "complex attitudes" toward China's authoritarian regime, adding that Singapore, ranked second in the world by the Heritage Foundation for economic liberty (behind Hong Kong, now ten years under Chinese rule), is a "one-party state that bans unpopular religious groups as casually as it bans chewing gum."

America was built on the revolutionary belief that economic freedom and individual liberty are not only compatible, they are seamlessly connected. Against enormous odds, our founders forged a nation where community activists and small-town beauty queens can viably run for the nation's highest offices one year and suffer the voters' wrath the next. So it follows that the American experience is written by dreamers, including those responsible for our gaudiest excesses: jet skis, NASCAR, SUVs, etc.

They have not given up on America -- many are busy perfecting the next gimmick to embarrass our hoi polloi. And our military is always there to defend our national character, through depression and recession, through good times and malaise, they have not forsaken us. They boldly stand as living proof that in tough times, we don't merely survive, we shine. Could that explain why immigration trends clearly show an exodus from Asia to the U.S.?

In the grip of the Great Depression, Winston Churchill said, "I do not think America is going to smash. On the contrary I believe that they will quite soon begin to recover. . . If the whole world except the United States sank under the ocean that community could get its living. They carved it out of the prairies and the forests. They are going to have a strong national resurgence in the near future." Contrary to his words, America's darkest hour was far from over, but his brand of steely resolve, whether or not reflected in Jim Rogers' financial projections, applied to 2010 means that the future holds great potential and is still ours to lose.

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  rdean

  Good Riddence. Doesn't love it enough to fix it.

  
  

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