By Carl Sampson
Wait just a cotton-picking minute.
We’ve been robbed.
When I was a kid, I distinctly remember reading a book about the future.
I don’t remember its name or the author, but it addressed how great everything would be in the years to come.
Instead of driving back and forth to work, we all would fly in our own personal helicopters.
Instead of working 50- and 60-hour weeks and weekends and holidays, we would work four days a week — and those would be half-days.
Instead of putting up with the weather, we would dial up the conditions we wanted.
None of that has come to pass, so here’s my question: What in the blue blazes happened? Reality has raised its ugly head and I, for one, don’t like it.
As it turns out, no one has an accurate crystal ball when it comes to predicting the future. Heck, meteorologists can’t predict what the weather will be tomorrow, and they sure as shooting can’t do anything about it.
But something else has happened. As a nation we have lost our way. In the 1950s and 1960s, when I was growing up, the Soviet Union loomed large. That was easy to understand, considering the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev showed up at the United Nations pounding his shoe on the table and threatening to bury us.
Much of what we did as a nation was a counterpoint to those wacky Russkies.
When they set up Cuba as a launching pad for their missiles, our Navy blockaded Soviet ships. When they launched a man into space, we saw them and raised the stakes by vowing to get to the moon first. The Soviet Union imploded along the way.
As a form of government communism is the equivalent of a car with a great big steering wheel but no engine. It denies the fact that people aren’t motivated by politicians.
They are motivated by hope, and that is absent from communism. Unless you’re the top dog, you’re no one.
As a nation we have a great many challenges facing us. The federal deficit has spiraled out of control. It’s not as sexy as space travel, but balancing the budget would be an accomplishment on par with landing on the moon – and more beneficial for coming generations.
The war on terrorism is winding down. With Osama bin Laden permanently out of the picture, it’s time for our troops to come home. We should keep up our guard, but we certainly don’t have to chase down every goat herder in Afghanistan.
Maybe it’s time to turn inward, to concentrate on making our nation better instead of improving the lives of the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Chinese, the Vietnamese and everyone else.
Let’s spend this century improving the American way of life. Let’s make it the American Century.
I’d still like to have that helicopter, but I would trade it in a second for the knowledge the U.S. will gain a greater sense of itself and a more secure future in the years to come.
