My position is that simply mouthing a "We're #1" slogan shows a lack of thought.

As I stated before, it's my opinion that, as far as an overall feeling of possibilities and the *capacity* for fixing what ails us and succeeding beyond that, I *do* believe that the United States is the best country in the world. It doesn't mean that we're the 'best' at any one particular thing, or even (at the moment) in a collecting of 'things' (depending on what you choose).

For example, we all know we HAVE to get off the oil addiction. Ignore all the Global Warming / Climate Change arguments for the moment. FACT: We send FAR too much money overseas to goverments that have people who want to kill us. Nobody can argue that.

FACT: Nuclear power is far safer than critics would like people to believe. It also provides for major capacity upgrades in one fell swoop (as opposed to depending on perhaps thousands of homeowners to put up solar panels).

FACT: China is building several thousand miles of high-speed rail lines that are opening within the next 18 months.

FACT: Our airspace is congested leading to many delays that cost money and time. The least profitable routes are typically short-hop routes. The axim in the airline industry is "a plane only makes money when it's in the air"

PROPOSAL: By converting some existing rail lines to electric and building new high-speed lines between major cities, we could reduce congestion on the ground (cars), cut some gas consumption (cars & planes), improve airline on-time performance, stabilize electric prices (that wouldn't be subject to oil/gas price swings as much). Sounds like a WIN/WIN/WIN idea, yes?

PROBLEM: NIMBY. Heck, when they were building the Acela and stringing the electric wire over the tracks from New Haven to Boston, Connecticut NIMBYs tried to block the project claiming EMF emissions would cause them cancer (despite the fact that this didn't happen anywhere from Washington to New Haven which had the electric lines for nearly 100 years).

PROBLEM: BANANA. Can't have a nuke plant no matter how safe ANYWHERE if you listen to some of the activists. Can't dispose of the waste (despite the Yucca Flats solution and new technologies that make use of the waste)

PROBLEM: BUDGET. Oh we can spend $14B on 7 miles of road tunnels in Boston, but to create a network of high-speed lines radiating from Chicago (that would help Midway & O'Hares on-time numbers)? In that area, we've gone from Can-Do to Can't-Do in 40 years. We can spend half a trillion on drugs for seniors, but not a tenth of that to build the line from SF-LA that would get planes out of the sky and cars off the road.

PROBLEM: INTERFERENCE. We've gone from not listening to complainers enough (the human cost of some of our historical construction projects are truly shocking in this day and age) to listening TOO much (like the Cape Wind obstructionists I've mentioned before)

SYMPTOM: Sometimes, we're too nice. We don't want to offend people. We want to give a listen and hear what they have to say. But we're afraid to call a moonbat a moonbat.

We seem to lack the collective will to get things done and defend our positions. (And don't get me started in the role the media plays in this).

Everything I wrote here is just ONE example to demonstrate the problem that infects us in so many places. We're content to sit on our laurels while they rot away underneath us.

With the way the news is, people keep saying we should watch out or we'll end up like Greece. I'm not so sure that's accurate as we deal with crisis (historically) better than they do. You know who we seem to be mirroring? England. Think of England during Victorian times - heck early in the Industrial Revolution, we bought all our steam engines from them! But now they sit on a faded empire, revelling in past glories - though they've managed to keep more of their independence when it comes to the EU.

I still say that we can learn form the successes and mistakes of others, not just ourselves.