That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back
Tom Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum call themselves 鈥渇rustrated optimists鈥� about America. The country still has a lot going for it, especially its entrepreneurial spirit and creative energy, they say. But it鈥檚 off its game at the moment 鈥� way off. And that鈥檚 happening at just the wrong time, when technological advances have enabled new economic and political competitors (think China) to take advantage.
America is in denial, unwilling to accept that it鈥檚 been living beyond its means and getting, well, a little lazy. For the authors, a country music lyric from the 2009 film 鈥�Crazy Heart鈥� sums it up: 鈥淔unny how fallin鈥� feels like flyin鈥�/ For a little while....鈥�
Meanwhile, the two major political parties have become so polarized, and so willing to pander to voters and tell them only what they want to hear, that they can neither propose real solutions separately nor work together to find them.
In That Used to Be Us, Friedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times, and Mandelbaum, a foreign-policy expert at Johns Hopkins University, do a masterly job of explaining just what鈥檚 wrong and why our nation is on the brink of tragedy. They employ lively examples and telling statistics to make their points, and buttress them with incisive quotes from those inside America鈥檚 political system. From preface to conclusion, the book paints a devastating picture.
But since the authors declare themselves optimists, a reader awaits some fresh solutions to the country鈥檚 massive problems, including out-of-control debt and deficits and slipping competitiveness. What comes is a slap of cold reality: Hard times lie ahead. There is no magic potion for returning to greatness, no easy answers. 鈥淎mericans will have to save more, consume less, study longer, and work harder than they have become accustomed to doing in recent decades,鈥� they write.
But hard is not impossible. 鈥淭hat Used to Be Us鈥� issues an appeal to return to the formula that made the US a political and economic superpower. That includes finding the 鈥渞adical center,鈥� where the best ideas from the right and left of the political spectrum work in harmony. Hewing to this middle path is far from easy, they say. But it presents the best hope for the kind of radical reform that鈥檚 needed.
The United States faces four big challenges, the authors say: adapting to globalization, adjusting to the information revolution, coping with budget deficits, and managing energy consumption and climate change. Solutions rest on five pillars that have come to represent a 鈥渦niquely American formula鈥� for success over the past 230 years.
Tax-cutting is not on their agenda. Carefully selected tax increases are. 鈥淥ur goal should not be merely to solve America鈥檚 debt and deficit problems,鈥� they write. 鈥淭hat is far too narrow.... [W]e must also invest in education, infrastructure, and research and development, as well as open our society more widely to talented immigrants and fix the regulations that govern our economy. Immigration, education, and sensible regulation are traditional ingredients of the American formula for greatness.鈥�
For education, that means setting a 鈥淟ake Wobegon鈥� standard, matching Garrison Keillor鈥檚 fictional town where 鈥渁ll the children are above average.鈥� It鈥檚 no longer good enough to have one of the best schools in the US; the country鈥檚 educational system must be world class to compete with countries like Singapore, where the biggest complaint from parents is that students are not being challenged enough.
In the labor market, we must operate as though 鈥渘o job is safe.鈥� Not just low-skill jobs are being shipped overseas but highly skilled technical work as well. 鈥淭here is no job that is America鈥檚 God-given right [to keep] anymore,鈥� says former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.
What are the jobs of the future? Be an innovator or creator of something new 鈥� or do your service-oriented job (a chef or accountant, for example) in a uniquely creative way.
Friedman and Mandelbaum, both early baby boomers, call on their generation to step up to the challenge. 鈥淭he future of the country is in our hands, as it was for the GIs on the beaches of Normandy,鈥� they write.
They quote a song from Marx Brothers classic 鈥淗orse Feathers鈥� to describe the logjam in Washington (鈥淵our proposition may be good,/ But let鈥檚 have one thing understood,/ Whatever it is, I鈥檓 against it./ And even when you鈥檝e changed it or condensed it,/ I鈥檓 against it.鈥�) Today, Republicans argue that tax cuts will be a panacea, and Democrats refuse to reform Medicare and Social Security. A serious third party candidate, such as H. Ross Perot in 1992 or, a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party, is needed to provide 鈥渟hock therapy鈥� 鈥� 鈥渁 very big bee that can sting both parties in a way they can neither ignore nor shrug off.鈥� The goal isn鈥檛 to win the White House but to pull a Democratic or Republican winner toward realistic solutions in the center.
Anyone who cares about America鈥檚 future 鈥� anyone planning to vote in 2012 鈥� ought to read this book and hear the authors鈥� compelling case. Their solution 鈥渕ay be a long shot,鈥� they concede, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 the best shot we have.鈥�
When the smoke clears, an America back at its best would again be a wonder to behold, 鈥渢he world鈥檚 most attractive launching pad 鈥� the place where everyone wants to come to work, invent, collaborate, or start something new....鈥�
It鈥檚 not impossible, they say. After all, that used to be us.
Gregory M. Lamb is a senior editor for the Monitor鈥檚 print edition.
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