A Nation in Decline

Bill O' Reilly's latest column, Here, takes the "bible of the American Left", the New York Times to task for opining that America is in a state of decline. Let's take a quick look at some of O' Reilly's points.

O' Reilly argues that America is hardly in decline by pointing out a few examples of other countries around the world, writing, "Overseas, the world is largely a mess. Africa remains a chaotic cauldron of corruption, China continues its authoritarian rule and there's no letup in the India-Pakistan hatred. Would you like to live in those countries?
Russia continues to lead the league in corruption, Mexico is fighting a brutal war against its own drug traffickers, and South America remains mired in poverty. Call me crazy, but I don't see many immigrants pounding on those doors."

While he has a valid point that we are not necessarily clamoring to move to the India-Pakistan border or to some lawless, drug-producing regions of Mexico, he somehow fails to ignore some 170+ of the other countries in the world. Would I mind living in Canada, England, Spain, or Italy, just to name a few? Not so much. Nor would a great number of Americans. Is it not true that immigrants are "pounding" down the doors in Spain, South Africa, and basically the vast majority of Western European nations? Apparently not in O' Reilly's world.

O' Reilly goes on to proclaim that "Against all odds, U.S. forces have almost single-handedly defeated Islamic fascism in Iraq, one of the most complicated battlefields in history." Um..do we even need to address this one? That's a pretty big "almost" there, Bill.

"In Afghanistan, U.S. and NATO troops continue to hammer the vicious Taliban on every front. The only reason those fascists are operating is that Pakistan protects them." Really? That's the onlyreason that the Taliban is surviving in Afghanistan? It has nothing to do with the local support? With the fact that, for all practical purposes, the Taliban controls large swaths of Afghanistan, and has for generations? Way to dig deep on that one, Bill.

Finally, O' Reilly ends by saying "So, it comes down to this: the committed left believes that America has been too aggressive fighting the war on terror and not aggressive enough when it comes to government mandated economic and social engineering. Thus, in their view, the country is in decline."

That's such a simplistic view of Liberal ideologies that it's hard to take his statements seriously. Nevermind that the Fed. Chief Bernanke has conceded that a recession is likely, saying "Our estimates are that we are slightly growing at the moment, but we think that there's a chance that for the first half as a whole, there might be a slight contraction."This is a man who cannot afford to be free and loose when discussing the economy, but rather a man whose every word can affect global markets instantaneously.

Is O' Reilly somehow going to paint Bernanke as a Socialist now? Actually, at this point I wouldn't be surprised...