The US Is Turning Itself Into a Failed State

In his book “The Great Degeneration,” Niall Ferguson explains why our democratic societies are slowly losing their competitive advantage in the world. His diagnosis, in short, is this: It’s because we are letting our institutions erode through disinterest and complacency, and because our governments are growing steadily worse.

Any observer looking to the U.S. right now can see what Ferguson means. The political polarization in the U.S. Congress and the inability of either party to accept a compromise has made America into a partially failed state, which has largely shut down its government because its Congress won’t provide it with the money it needs to run.

As if America’s image and status in the world hadn’t already suffered enough under the economic crisis and Barack Obama’s foreign policy weaknesses, the United States is now doing additional harm to itself, for which both parties are responsible.

Obama Remains Obstinate

Obama views the new health care law, which should take effect at the beginning of next year, as the most important achievement of his presidency. For this reason, he was unwilling to even negotiate with the Republicans about its postponement for a year.

The conservatives, for their part, are experiencing a revolt among their representatives, who feel more or less bound to the tea party movement and their credo of smaller government and more freedoms for the people.

Their purely ideological battle against what they see as the beginnings of socialism and movement towards a quasi-European all-encompassing welfare state is more important to them than keeping America functioning.

Conservatives Sacrifice Common Sense

Common sense and the moderate political approach have fallen by the wayside, both of which most Americans would appreciate. Politics has become less and less willing to implement common sense.

America’s political class has shown itself in the past few years to be similarly dysfunctional to those we have seen in several nations during the Euro crisis and are seeing once again in Italy.

Clearly, old and new rivals Russia and China do not need to shove the West down the stairs of international politics. When in doubt, we can do it ourselves.