Qualquer dos três artigos devem ser lidos na totalidade. No entanto, se Obama conseguir fazer com que a legislação sobre a saúde e a sobre questões energéticas e ambientais passem, o quadro tenderá a ficar menos sombrio.
[...] But while our culture of imagination is still vibrant, the other critical factor that still differentiates countries today — and is not a commodity — is good governance, which can harness creativity. And that we may be losing. I am talking about the ability of a society’s leaders to think long term, address their problems with the optimal legislation and attract capable people into government. What I increasingly fear today is that America is only able to produce “suboptimal” responses to its biggest problems — education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment. [...]
The standard answer is that we need better leaders. The real answer is that we need better citizens. We need citizens who will convey to their leaders that they are ready to sacrifice, even pay, yes, higher taxes, and will not punish politicians who ask them to do the hard things. Otherwise, folks, we’re in trouble. A great power that can only produce suboptimal responses to its biggest challenges will, in time, fade from being a great power — no matter how much imagination it generates.
- Op-Ed Columnist - The Phantom Menace - NYTimes.com: "A funny thing happened on the way to a new New Deal. A year ago, the only thing we had to fear was fear itself; today, the reigning doctrine in Washington appears to be “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” What happened? To be sure, “centrists” in the Senate have hobbled efforts to rescue the economy. But the evidence suggests that in addition to facing political opposition, President Obama and his inner circle have been intimidated by scare stories from Wall Street. Consider the contrast between what Mr. Obama’s advisers were saying on the eve of his inauguration, and what he himself is saying now."
- Economist's View: "America's Broken Politics" Jeffrey Sachs says government is broken:
America's broken politics, by Jeff Sachs, Project Syndicate: ...The difficulties that Barack Obama is having in passing his basic program, whether in healthcare, climate change, or financial reform, are hard to understand at first glance.[...] Part of the cause for these huge divergences ... is that America is an increasingly polarized society. [...] American politics has become venomous as the belief has grown, especially on the vocal far right, that government policy is a "zero-sum" struggle between different social groups and politics. [...] Moreover, the political process itself is broken. [...] An equally deep crisis stems from the role of big money in politics.[...] Many observers regard the lobbying process as a kind of legalized corruption...[...] Finally, policy paralysis around the US federal budget may be playing the biggest role of all in America's incipient governance crisis. The US public is rabidly opposed to paying higher taxes, yet the trend level of taxation (at about 18% of national income) is not sufficient to pay for the core functions of government. ...[...]"
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