Site Network: Debate This, Ole Miss. | the j-department | debate.olemiss.edu | mblog | mcast | the university of mississippi

home repair

One of Fareed Zakaria's responses in our latest issue of MZNE really interested me. Zakaria commented that if he were interviewing the presidential candidates, he would ask them how they plan to rebuild American power. For one of the first times, America is declining in power. Over the past 200 years the United States has made its way into international politics and has dominated as a Super Power. However, as Zakaria points out, today "the reality is the United States is in a position where its power has just been hollowed out." He mentions our recessing economy and our growing debt. It seems we are becoming a shell of what we used to be--as of now still looking relatively prestine on the outside but slowly crumbling on the inside.

Zakaria wonders, "how do you rebuild American power and influence before you can start having various grand designs around the world?" When I think about this I think back to the ideals our nation was founded on. The "American dream" of the self-made man, manifest destiny, accumulating wealth through hard work. Does the America we know today still thrive on these principles of the past or rather does it cost along, shrinking behind the hard work of our ancestors?

This past summer I worked with a woman named Joyce, an enthusiastic woman, about 60 years old. One day as Joyce and I were watching a news broadcast that was harping about our oncoming economic recession, Joyce commented that my generation doesn't know the value of hard work. I of course immediately became defensive, however after considering it I began to see where she was coming from. I determined that Joyce's idea of hard work is different than my idea of hard work. Generally speaking, hard work as Joyce was growing up depended on entrepreneurship, physical labor and creativity. Although some of the same principles apply today, hard work has somewhat shifted to a reliance on extreme intelligence, an understanding of technology and extreme motivation. In a country that has flourished from growth and expansion, we've reached a time in which it is difficult for us to grow any larger, any stronger. How can America improve if we have no room left to grow?

I feel as though both candidates in this election have put an emphasis on reexamining our nation--on inspecting every aspect of federal government, seeing which groups of the bureaucracy are still necessary in the year 2008 and which are simple a waste of our money. The United States is a beautiful house resting on a foundation that's over 200 years old. It's time now to strengthen that foundation, to give the home a makeover. We need to paint the walls, refurnish the rooms and fix the cracks. Hopefully one of these candidates can give our home the repairs it needs.

0 comments:

Post a Comment