Twilight’s Last Gleaming?

Alarmists have long predicted America’s demise. But JOEL KOTKIN says the declinists are just as wrong now as they have been in the past.

America is rife with predictions of impending economic, moral, social and ecological apocalypse. It’s not for the first time: Virtually every generation of Americans has concocted its own scenario for the Republic’s final meltdown. Most of the time, declinists and doomsayers have ranged from tiny to significant minorities.

On this particular go-round, however, Americans in far larger numbers have turned negative about the direction of the country

To be sure, the current mood does have some basis in reality. We’re confronted with a seemingly clueless and inarticulate administration, a looming energy crisis, a spate of unseemly corporate and political scandals, massive budget deficits, and several festering foreign policy problems. Even so, today’s trendy Chicken Littles base their hysteria more on sentiment than reality. For all its problems, the United States retains enormous dynamism and excellent long-term prospects.

How, then, to account for all the doomsaying? Perhaps the best way to begin answering this question is to take the measure of the declinist case.

Dallas Morning News