America’s ‘Que Sera’ Declinism
Sorry, FDR, Fatalism Is Worse than Fear
In his State of the Union address in January, President Obama challenged the conventional wisdom that America is in decline. “Anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” he declared. “America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs.”
That the majority of Americans disagree with him is not intrinsically a cause for concern. Indeed, as Robert Lieber documents, the fear of American decline has often reaped major dividends: wartime mobilization after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the Manhattan …
