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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – When most Americans think of the good ole days, we are probably thinking back to the period just after World War II.
The war was fought “over there” – or somewhere else. Our nation was not battle scarred. While the cities of Europe and Asia were in ruins, we emerged as the world’s only superpower. We would rebuild the world. Former enemies would become allies, and democracies in our own image. American military might would re-order the globe.
As we approach out 250th birthday, it’s important to acknowledge that the America of then is a museum piece. We should not long for that distant past, when more than half of our workforce was employed in agriculture or worked in a factory. America’s economic strength is our ability to innovate. It’s the computer and the internet that drove our economy much more than the tractors and the assembly line.
Yet America has challenges as we celebrate a milestone birthday. One is geopolitical – one is internal.
Around the world, we need to be smart in how we use our global might and influence. Our last three armed conflicts – Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran – all appear to be less successful than we’d hoped. Afghanistan is still a tribal nation dominated by unfriendly forces. Joe Biden led a humiliating retreat. Iraq was a merry adventure for chemical weapons that never turned up. Another enemy, Iran, filled the power vacuum. Even today Iran’s regime seems likely. Remember, a superpower wins its wars. We do not. (For what it’s worth, Russia has done no better in Afghanistan or Ukraine.)
Internally, at no time in our history have we had so many people saying that America is a fraud of a nation. Democrats and liberals chant that we are a racist hellhole, and that anyone other than white males don’t have a fair chance. That is a lie. America has never been more diverse than it is today, and we have never been more accepting of that diversity. Women have never had such choices – beginning with being homemakers or fully participating in the economy. The downside of this slander against America is that those who believe it stop trying. America has a poor and unproductive underclass because they believe the American dream doesn’t apply to them.
One of the reasons I think Donald Trump will be remembered as a consequential president is that he was unwilling to manage an orderly decline in America. He boldly stood up for American industrial and energy independence, for bringing more American jobs home, and for restoring opportunity to our shores. He doesn’t care if you drive a BMW or a Kia, so long as they are manufactured here – creating jobs for Americans.
If, today, you had the misfortune of living in a refugee camp – where would you rater be? Imagine that other nations: Canada, England, South Korea, Argentina, or the United States were willing to take you in. Certainly WE would be your first, second and third choice. While other nations have their virtues, no other land than America has the opportunities that we do. We ought to remember that for our 250th birthday.
Chris Conley
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