Reply #2: Good article.

[creon]

The USA has been fortunate; not, exceptional. The period from 1945 to ca 1972 was a good time for America; the rest of the world has caught up, and the USA has to compete. It is a different world.

Many people in the USA and are afraid and angry. Thus, the tea party and the present state of the GOP.

WEare in the worst downturn since the depression, and there is no way out that anyone can see. There are ways out of it; but people who have good ideas are heterodox and are discounted. So we are facing years of stagnation, at best.

The GOP is doing what it has to do: when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.