“Our parents truly were the Greatest Generation. We, alas, in too many ways, have been what the writer Kurt Andersen called ‘The Grasshopper Generation,’ eating through the prosperity that was bequeathed us like hungry locusts. Now we and our kids together need to be ‘The Regeneration’ — the generation that renews, refreshes, re-energizes and rebuilds America for the 21st century.”
Thomas Friedman’s column this morning is just short of desperate, suggesting that we’re running out of time to get America going again, to make it great again.
In many ways he’s right. While we worry about this issue or that issue – one issue at a time – we instead need to recognize that virtually every social, economic and, yes, political crisis is connected. Healthcare? Big, yes, but also woven with unsustainable entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare, not to mention the need for tax increases. Education? Massive, because it clearly leads to more smart people needed to take on CO2 emissions, climate change and alternative fuel sources. Then there’s the deficit.
I’m not the first to say it … and this isn’t the first time I’ve said it. We need a reboot, a reset, a clean sheet, and time is running out.
Are we indeed “hungry locusts” who care nothing for those who follow?
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