Forget the Roman Empire.
John Bolton is rejecting the fashionable notion that the decline of the United States is imminent:
The international left and its U.S. acolytes welcome decline as long-overdue payback for our past sins, while many American conservatives see it as the inevitable consequence of decades of bad policy decisions. Both are wrong. There is no decline that can’t be reversed by electing a real president in 2012 to unleash our country’s vibrant political and economic strengths. …
Americans still hold their fate in their hands, and there is no real reason to bet against us. We will once again confirm Churchill’s observation that “you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing-after they’ve tried everything else.”
We really do have it in our hands to remedy the dire situation. Rep. Paul Ryan has initiated a meaningful discussion on how to solve our financial plight. Our foreign policy of late has been hapless and confused, presumably built on principles most Americans don’t embrace. (The president doesn’t quite reveal on what principles his policy is based.) But foreign policy is the purview of the president, and a new president could reverse much of the damage.
One of the women’s magazines my mother took had a feature called “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” We’ve reached the point of asking if this country can be saved. John Bolton’s affirmative makes me feel good this morning.