Ryan Craven And So Can You // An American Renaissance

An American Renaissance

Watching Obama as he begins his term has been fascinating. Everything is hanging in the balance RIGHT NOW for America. For 2 years we’ve been talking about a need for radical change in the way we do politics and now talk is cheap and it’s time to act. The threat of a return to the status quo in Washington is looming every day (case in point being Obama’s stimulus package: it passed the House of Reps with the vote split straight down party lines… not one Republican or Democrat breaking ranks…in case you were wondering, the end of partisan politics and the age of sunshine and puppies for everyone has not arrived).

Thomas Friedman has written about how the “system is built for stalemate” and fighting to a draw is about the best you can hope for under normal circumstances. These are not normal circumstances. The pessimists will say that our inability to act boldly in the face of this crisis is yet another signal of the beginning of the end for American leadership in the world.

All I know is this: It’s going to take more than Obama. It’s going to take all of us. Watch the news, any news at all (FoxNews is better than no news), read a book, get online, and most importantly PAY ATTENTION DAMMIT. Go visit the soon to be created www.Recovery.gov and actually make sure all the bailout money isn’t going to swimming pools or go-cart tracks. Participate in this democracy thing that everyone keeps talking about (politics keeps chugging along even in non-election years by the way…its not nearly as sexy and doesn’t involve Wil.i.am. rapping but it’s just as important).

YOU are the foundation of our American renaissance. Are you ready?

Time to Reboot America

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: December 23, 2008

I had a bad day last Friday, but it was an all-too-typical day for America…

Landing at Kennedy Airport from Hong Kong was, as I’ve argued before, like going from the Jetsons to the Flintstones… As I looked around at this dingy room, it reminded of somewhere I had been before. Then I remembered: It was the luggage hall in the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. It closed in 1998.

The next day I went to Penn Station, where the escalators down to the tracks are so narrow that they seem to have been designed before suitcases were invented. The disgusting track-side platforms apparently have not been cleaned since World War II. I took the Acela, America’s sorry excuse for a bullet train, from New York to Washington. Along the way, I tried to use my cellphone to conduct an interview and my conversation was interrupted by three dropped calls within one 15-minute span.

All I could think to myself was: If we’re so smart, why are other people living so much better than us?..

That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history. Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely.

It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us.

Posted on January 29th, 2009