America at 250: Where Has My Country Gone?

I remember back in 2009 watching a South Park episode called Dances with Smurfs.  In the episode, the troublemaker Eric Cartman becomes the reader of the elementary school announcements. He takes on the persona of political commentator Glenn Beck, and repeatedly invokes the What happened to my school? I don't consider myself a conservative or one to have blind patriotism, but that episode recently had me ask a similar question of What happened to my country? 

Sure, there are great things about the United States. The United States has the world's largest economy and is still the main superpower. Many of the world's top universities and largest companies are in the United States, and is still a hub for innovation. It is a country that was built on a creed and where your ancestry did not determine your lot in life. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are still faring well, certainly relative to Europe. But there is so much that has me concerned:

• Capitalism is declining in popularity while nearly two-thirds of Americans from the age of 18 to 29 who favor socialism. An economic system once considered synonymous with the American Dream is now viewed with skepticism. Instead, more of today's youth are attracted to an ideology that has been tried and has failed. 
• According to Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, the United States was faring better a couple of decades ago. A similar decline is on Fraser's Economic Freedom index. It shows that this country is less committed to the economic liberty that fueled generations of innovation, entrepreneurship, and prosperity. 
• There was a time where Congress cared about fiscal discipline, but the U.S. credit rating continues to spiral downwards with the debt-to-GDP ratio showing no signs of slowing down and shrinking.
• The Federal Reserve continues to have a large balance sheet, not to mention the U.S. dollar declining as a percent of global reserves. While the dollar is still dominant, it does signal concerns about the long-term fiscal and monetary foundations of the United States. 
• Homeownership and education are increasingly out of reach. Starting a family is more expensive, whether it is child care or providing a proper education. 
• More Americans think the First Amendment goes too far. The freedoms of religion, speech, protest, and press are civil liberties are not merely inconveniences that should be tolerated. They are some of the defining features of a free society. Cancel culture has only made this trend worse. It shows that this country is less tolerant of opposing ideas, beliefs, and ways of life. 
• Populism has become popular on both sides of the political aisle. The Left promises protection from corporations, inequality, and unfairness. The Right promises protections from foreign competition, free trade, immigrants, and cultural change. Both increasingly believe that the government is the solution, not markets and civil society.  

This list is not about one president, one party, one election, one Supreme Court decision, or one public policy. It is the sad realization that over the course of my lifetime, the country I thought represented life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is disappearing bit by bit. America used to stand for many noble ideals. Here are some that come to mind:

• All people are created equal and are entitled to equal protection under the law. 
• With enough hard work and disciple, anyone can thrive, regardless of their station in life. 
• Markets generally work better than the government. 
• Capitalism provides prosperity and excessive government is anathema to the American spirit. 
• Government should be small and liberty is the default. 
• The extent to which government is in it is in our lives, it exists to serve the people, not the other way around. 
• A person's status and success should be determined by their merits, talents, and efforts, and not on their wealth, class, gender, or race. 
• Personal independence and individual accomplishments. 

What makes me sad is that many of the ideas that once made America exceptional now have to be defended in a way they never did before. The principles of liberty, limited government, free enterprise, and constitutional restraint have survived wars, depressions, and national crises over the past 250 years. I want those ideals to triumph both because they are morally just and because they create the most prosperity. Even so, I am less hopeful that those ideals can survive in this country for another 250 years.