Beyond Bush
At the end of the day, openness is America’s greatest strength. Many people on both sides of the political aisle have ideas that they believe will keep America strong in this new world—fences, tariffs, subsidies, investments. But America has succeeded not because of the ingenuity of its government programs. It has thrived because it has kept itself open to the world—to goods and services, ideas and inventions, people and cultures.
The column by Dr. Zakaria fairly long but is well worth the read. I’ve met my fair share of people who seem ashamed of being an American and no longer realize “that America is freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It’s fragile; it needs protection” as President Reagan eloquently stated in his farewell address. Perhaps it’s one of those things that are easier to see once you get a chance to step out and look in as opposed to look out from within it… but I do sincerely hope that America returns to becoming the shining city upon a hill as Reagan saw it:
But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.