America, Increasingly Isolated by Hate, Virtue, Governance and Power
It's a lonely and unsatisfactory life to be the toughest kid on the block and we as a nation have been that for the twelve years since the fall of communism. Our defense budget exceeds all those of the rest of the world's nations combined and we are not even a power to be reckoned with. When no one can reckon with us, we become more and more isolated to our own rhetoric, without a meaningful voice to caution our world view. Truly a home-grown country, our men of power are world traveled but hardly world wise. Few of them have ever lived abroad and fewer yet have a feel for cultures beyond their own and if ever a criticism cut deeply and cleanly it's the truism that America is a pop culture.
Put in perspective, we have fielded some truly great modern men and women and shouldered the wheel admirably in difficult times. Ed Murrow and Franklin Roosevelt and in more recent times Bill Moyers and Katherine Graham, excusing myself from leaving out your personal favorite but there were many. An…