We need an all-out ideological civil war. Without the blood-letting of course, but just short of it. We need to pit right wing versus left wing. Progressive ideas versus conservative ideas. Not in the realm of politics, but in our daily lives.
Americans have to be told that this is necessary. We face an uncertain future that is getting more and more uncertain every day. We can no longer pretend that the day of reckoning is not at hand, because it is staring us in our faces every morning, as we brush our teeth.
The Democrats are thinking of introducing next year legislation that will amend the recently enacted health care legislation to include a public option. Should they succeed in doing that, there will be an uproarious national debate on the role of government in this country that will make last year's dysfunctional town hall meetings seem like a picnic.
America needs this. If the left, progressives and students mobilize to support the public option and the right, the chambers of commerce, the old conservative folks mobilize in opposition, the resultant gut-wrenching shouting match will determine the country's permanent direction.
I believe in the public option. I believe in progressive ideas. I believe that most of the problems we are seeing today - economic, societal, lack of political will - are a result of years, even decades of conservative neglect. From Reagan, to Bush I to Bush II, the Republicans have neglected the erection of defenses against the Japanese, the Koreans, the Chinese, the Indians who have systematically dismantled American manufacturing and other business sectors.
They looked the other way as country after country took advantage of the U.S.'s commitment to laissez-faire economics. Reagan, after his second term ended, had no idea why the Japanese gave him a one million dollar gift during his visit to Japan in 1989. The Japanese loved Reagan. He never once entertained thoughts of protecting American manufacturers of television sets and other electronic products from the cheap Japanese products that were being dumped in the U.S. market. By the time Reagan's second term ended, the radio, television, non-high tech consumer electronic products industries had been buried in Arlington cemetery. All in the name of American military superiority.
Bush II - the younger Bush - looked the other way as China consolidated its position as chief night burglar of U.S. manufacturing jobs. He looked the other way, because China was financing Bush's ill-advised war in Iraq. He looked the other way, because China was financing the massive Bush tax cuts for wealthy Americans, many of whom were and still are Bush's friends. He looked the other way, because China financed the expensive flexing of world power muscles that Bush extolled when he proclaimed "Mission Accomplished" on the U.S.S. Lincoln.
We became like the Russians, as the Russians became like Americans. Recall that Russia was a third-world economic power even as it assumed the role of the second military superpower, a menacing knife at the throat of the world's number one superpower, the United States of America.
With China and India leading the way, other countries have taken over manufacturing and back office operations for American business. It started with Reagan during the Japanese miracle, continued under Bush I and to a certain extent under Clinton - though Clinton must be credited with the explosion of high-tech jobs in Silicon Valley and other technology centers all over the U.S. - and reached a crescendo during the Bush II years, when China and India systematically relocated a sizable chunk of American business into those two countries' cities.
The Russianization of America is nearly complete. Like most third-world countries, we struggle to find jobs for our people. We promise ourselves that we will develop alternative energy - solar, wind, thermal, nuclear, etc. - yet in the back of our heads we know that China and other countries are so far ahead of us in these fields that we may already be an also-ran in them.
We delight in being the sole military superpower in the world, an empty distinction since we know that a devastating terrorist attack on American soil is not a question of "If" but of "when."
In the end, we really have inherited nothing, just the wind. We are fast becoming third-world economically, even as we cling on to our military might. Just as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War.
The most important, most valuable resource owned by Americans - their houses - have lost so much value that now people can't wait to get rid of their houses instead of treasuring them. People are fleeing their upside-down houses (houses that owe more money than they are worth) as though those houses had the germs that cause the Black Plague.
Americans expect the worst of their Social Security system, their Medicare and Medicaid, which they consider already bankrupt as we speak. Americans are wrong on this, because the Social Security system is decades away from insolvency, even if the U.S. Congress does nothing. But the dim prospects are real. If America cannot find future public financing for the continuation of Social Security and Medicare, those two entitlement programs will eventually become insolvent.
For the first time perhaps in its history, the American nation fears its future. Are we equal to the challenges? Do we have the talent? Is it true Chinese and other Asians are born smarter than Americans? Why do Asians outperform most American kids academically?
Do we have enough money to support our military? Shouldn't we slash the Pentagon budget in half and bring our troops home where they can protect the country from Al Qaeda and other terrorists who are plotting to one day launch a terrorist attack that will rival 9/11?
American ingenuity, which used to be our source of pride and the promise of a prosperous future, is now being rivaled by other countries. While we still dominate new patents, our lead over the rest of the world is fast shrinking.
Our Ivy League universities are the greatest, but they have become so expensive that our own children are shunning them. Nowadays, our elite universities are educating Chinese, Indian, South Korean, Taiwanese, HongKong and other scholars so that those scholars can go back to their home countries and accelerate the pace of dismantling American-based businesses.
Besides that "minor" inconvenience, the current Great Recession has rendered diplomas earned in those great universities useless as more and more of their graduates find difficulty finding jobs upon graduation.
Americans do not dare to dream of the nice juicy jobs, they are fighting each other for jobs, any old jobs. And the prospects are more of the same over much of this decade. Will it ever improve? What happens to all these kids who are graduating from college and are spending the next chapter of their lives doing odd jobs because there are no permanent, career-making jobs that are available?
Is the solution another "Go west, young man" epochal episode, with west being China and points in Asia, where American jobs have immigrated to? Citizens of third-world countries have to expatriate themselves to find work. Are Americans destined to do the same in the not-too-distant future?
And what do we do about those who are in this country illegally? We can't deport them all, even if we could find them. What would King Solomon do? Is America sufficiently Solomonic to tackle the illegal immigration problem smartly and logically, not through their gut reactions?
America must go through a soul-wrenching national debate that explores a multitude of issues confronting American society. We can start with a debate on the public option. Such a debate will necessarily answer the question: Is America entering a welfare state phase, similar to the phase Europe had to live through as it struggled to take care of Europeans' needs after the Second World War, when Europeans were dependent on the good graces of Uncle Sam?
If America can no longer afford to solve most, let alone all of its problems, then the correct prescription would be a welfare state similar to the European welfare states.
That is what a national debate on the public option will accomplish. I believe - even as I favor the public option - that if the U.S. Congress successfully introduces the public option, it will be only a matter of time before the country adopts a health care system that mimics the Canadian, Australian, British and other European systems. I think those are great prospects. Health insurance for all, administered and financed by the U.S. government. With money collected from the people through higher tax rates.
America will look more like Canada. But is that such a bad thing? In the Time-Life documentary, "Auschwitz," reference is made to a section of the Auschwitz concentration camp as "Canada." That section was known as Canada because it was run like heaven. Corrupt - because German soldiers routinely pilfered Jewish prisoners' private belongings - but nonetheless run like heaven. The German soldiers in Auschwitz believed that Canada was the land of milk and honey, where all things good and beautiful awaited the people who were fortunate to have landed there as immigrants.
More and more Americans are turning their envious eyes to the north. Canadians have their future and their present mapped out for them. The government does all the planning, the people do all the enjoying. Canadians pay a whole lot for the privilege of living in that section of heaven they have carved for themselves, but they gladly pay. They look at their neighbors below them and tsk-tsk their way to the realization that the Americans expend a lot of energy rejecting the one lifesaver that can save them.
I'm all for a welfare state. Let us entrust the government with more of our money so that it can take care of our needs - basic and sophisticated needs. Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. After they get done with the bills, all they have left is their paltry disposable income that they use to buy clothes, go to movies, party with their friends, etc. Then they work for another month so at the end of the month they have the money to pay their bills.
We Americans save very little of what we earn. Most of the citizens of countries that we dismiss as welfare states - or socialist states, if we believe the Republicans - save more money than we do. They take longer vacations, they enjoy life more, while we Americans work our fingers to the bone for the privilege of paying our creditors.
All the while, we are trusting in Uncle Sam. We think that Uncle Sam will protect us when we get old, or if we become disabled. But how can Uncle Sam do that if we are constantly questioning why we even pay taxes to the Federal government?
As a nation, we Americans must dialogue the question: if the government can promise us the security that Canadians, Australians and Europeans enjoy, are we willing to pay more in taxes? Are we willing to give up some of our freedoms for the greater good? Those are the questions confronting us today.
The sooner we answer that question, the sooner we can go on the road and meet our destiny as a nation.
