V. D. Hanson is moaning and gnashing his teeth. Americans are depressed because things are so bad, and so on, and he is too. Perhaps untrue to type, I want to dissent somewhat from his gloomy view. I offer no evidence, only impressions and points of view.
The economy -- yes, things look bad now, but I think the worst of the recession will be over in a year or two, and that's not so bad when compared to the Great Depression say. There is still enormous potential in the American economy, especially in its creative segments and in the willingness to work that Americans have compared to the Europeans, if not the Chinese. We still have the secret of liberty figured out more than anywhere in the world. There are people who want to ruin our economy, but it is far from clear they will get to. Resistance is already building rapidly to budget-busting schemes. People are finding their voices. I'm not sure that this crisis will turn out to be the opportunity that Rahm et al. think it was going to be. This is a testament to our system of government, for all of its weaknesses. It makes it hard to do the stupidest things quickly, though it makes smart things impossible as well. So there is room for deep concern, and attention, but despair is not warranted at the moment.
American culture -- yes, our most public culture is cracking up and decaying, but at the same time thousands of flowers, lichen, vines, weeds, you name it are growing up in all the cracks and vacant lots. I am sure more Americans are reading more good books and writing more good prose than at any time in our history. Huge amounts of dreck are produced to be sure. But there has never been a time in our history when more Americans had access to the best that has been written and thought and were taking advantage of it. There is going to be more and more of this. In ten years, for a $100 you will be able to carry the equivalent of a university library with you whereever you go. This is a big deal. I notice that ordinary people are more informed than at any time in my life. People forget how much ignorance there was in the 1960s and '70s in a typical American town. This aspect of the world has changed and for the better. I also don't agree about Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and so on. Sure, they were fine writers. But I think they were also major beneficiaries of a rich-getting-richer dynamic where they were made part of the canon and promoted to be culture heros. Now that system is breaking or has already broken up. American publishing isn't controlled by what I've heard called a cabal of twenty liberal women from Manhattan (sorry, but that's how a famous conservative writer described it in a candid moment). There's a whole world now of self-publication now on the Web, and that's just beginning. Most of what's published is bad, but most of anything always is. I am much more impressed by how many people on their blogs, for example, write well, even really well, and have a lot to say. There are lots of thoughtful people out there and they can talk and listen to each other as never before. Old gatekeepers are gone. This is not going to lead to some sort of nirvana, but it's a powerfully good thing. It will make it much harder to strip people of their freedom, for one thing. Sort of the intellectual equivalent of the Second Amendment.
Religion, values and all that -- I don't agree that we are going to hell. I teach youngsters for a living and I am continually impressed by their resolve and courage. They are plenty smart but one thing I have learned I think is that character you can never have too much of, while intelligence you need enough of but after a certain amount it is almost irrelevant, if you are not an astrophysicist or something. Kids these days, from what I can see, are strong and brave. Look at them in Iraq, for heaven's sake. Compare our military now to the US Army in Vietnam. There are grave social problems, but I remember the seventies and early eighties. In many ways, the country's values are much healthier now.
I could be completely wrong, but Obama is beginning to look to me as a kind of Jimmy Carter. He is either going to change himself, or people are going to cast him aside. I don't think he has what it takes (knock on wood) to lead us off of cliff. I don't think enough people will follow him. In fact, I think a lot of moderates and independents may have learned or be about to learn a lesson.
I'm one of nature's pessimists. I see the glass as half full, with poisoned water. Even so, I really think our best days are ahead of us. The people who would like to stamp out or cabin inside of the state the best things about this country, have come along a few decades too late. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
I don't think things are as rosy as you believe. It will not be your generation (or mine) that will be weighed down by the staggering debt being laid on the backs of your children and grandchildren. This isn't guesswork, as the demographics and the economic factors are already in place for a lower standard of living. And that doesn't even address the issue of worldwide Jihadists. But at least on that question, I am less certain.
Posted by: josil | March 22, 2009 at 12:50 AM
I tellya, Smith, there was warning when I got out of bed and put on my pants backward. Now this wild optimism, and it's too early in the day for me to think.
I do not disagree; we have the tools to fight, the best tools ever provided to free men both to learn and to teach. But one of the ancients told me we are cured of an evil only by suffering it to the fullest. There lies the dilemma.
Our revolutionaries were doing just fine with incrementalism over most of a century. Now they are at risk of blowing it all up, and you are suggesting we pull them back from the brink and to the thousand cuts once again. Inotherwords, you are a timid wimp, like me--let it either blow up or completely shrivel, ah, down the road.
What you observe of young people is true--true of those you are around. Yet the counterforces are tremendous, not in some equal counterforce to what you observe, but in a vast mediocrity, and worse, which is not only encouraged by our masters, but enforced. That is Obama's Kingdom, and Tocqueville's prophecy.
Posted by: james wilson | March 22, 2009 at 09:07 AM
This is what bad consists of:
"Of course all the world's sports clubs were mourning their dead through the winter of 1918-19. In British rugby, no black-creped sorrows can have been heavier than those of the ancient and fabled London Scottish club based at Richmond Athletic Ground a mile or so up the road from Twickenham. On 13 April, the last Saturday of the 1913-14 season, London Scottish 1st XV beat Blackheath on a day when the club fielded a further three XVs, a total of 60 players. Of those, 45 died in the war."
Hat tip, Alex Massie at the Spectator blog.
Posted by: dearieme | March 22, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Yes, things aren't very bad. What concerns a lot of us is not that things are bad, it's that it is possible that the looters will succeed in turning around some important long-term trends, particularly in productivity growth. We can grow our way out from almost any amount of debt as long as we do what Reagan did: cut tax rates and regulations, to increase the returns to capital, labor and creativity. Obama and the Democratic Congress are trying to do the opposite. We hope that they will not succeed or, better, that they will find it politically expedient to do what Reagan did. My fear is that voters who were foolish enough to elect Obama will now be foolish enough not to reject his statist programs until it is too late to reverse them. Time will tell.
Meanwhile I don't think there's any doubt that our system of primary education, and the parts of our culture most influenced by it, have deteriorated significantly in comparison even to what we had in the '70s. So the other big worry is that Obama and Pelosi will do to our medical system and big chunks of our civil society the same kind of damage as the Left has already done to education.
We still have things good, and I agree that our culture is better in some ways than it used to be, and that some parts of our society are stronger than ever. But those are the hard, accountable parts of our society, and the Left wants to diminish them and to expand the soft, politicized, dysfunctional realm that it dominates.
If we're lucky, we've overdone our pessimism and a bright future lies ahead. People tend to overweight the present when making predictions, so it's quite possible that things will look much better in a year or two.
Posted by: Jonathan | March 22, 2009 at 07:58 PM
Isnt tax and spend the only proven way out of a really bad economy. Not just a small recession, but a really bad like a depression. just a thought, i havent thought bout it too much. I mean, everyone seems to agree that WWII is what really ended the depression. But wasnt WWII just a huge tax and spend. They could've just made widgets of any kind or just dumped all those tanks and planes in the ocean and it wouldve had the same effect. People made lots of personal sacrifices and gave up certain amenities during the war to serve the greater good.
Cant we just do the same now but replace the military equipment with something else? Like I said, just a thought.
Posted by: Joe | March 23, 2009 at 12:19 AM
Hanson's historical work is impressive. His social commentary is just awful.
The linked piece amounts to a 2-page "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!" old man rant: these damn kids today and their awful rap music, terrible movies, and casual clothing are ruining America!
You could easily transplant the same rant into the 1950s: these damn kids today and their awful rock'n'roll music, terrible movies, and casual clothing are ruining America!
Posted by: Angus | March 23, 2009 at 07:54 AM
VDH offers concrete, explicit examples to validate his opinions/views.
Your opinions, without any supporting evidence, are not worth much. Kinda worth what I paid for them I guess.
Ron Snyder
Posted by: Ron Snyder | March 23, 2009 at 08:42 AM
Come back in a few years (or sooner) and give us another rosy post when interest rates and inflation and unemployment are in double digits and heading higher.
God, I hope business owners have the sense to lay off all their Obama-voting employees first.
What a joke of a blog.
Posted by: Chester White | March 23, 2009 at 10:22 AM
O.K., let's see...
We have barbaric hordes out there who want to kill us all, and don't mind dying in the process. The technology of mass destruction is older and easier to attain by the day.
Meanwhile, our government is racking up a $20 trillion dollar debt, and the coming hyper-inflation looms. Even if Obama and the Dems are tossed out of office, that debt will have to be repayed. But only a minority of Republicans have the guts to kill entitlements once they are awarded, so the country will continue selling itself to China, albeit at a slower pace.
And then there is the small matter of the continued destruction of the family unit as the foundation of society. Where the family falls apart, the government steps in to fill the void.
But yeah, other than all of that, things are going great!
Posted by: Ben | March 23, 2009 at 10:24 AM
"I'm one of nature's pessimists. I see the glass as half full, with poisoned water"
Okay, I liked that one a lot!
Good article.
Posted by: Chris Muir | March 23, 2009 at 10:24 AM