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My State of the Union

My fellow Americans,

The state of our union is confused and uncertain. Our economic recovery is aging and shaky. The rich are getting a lot richer while American workers struggle. Government revenue is insufficient. Medicare and Social Security are at risk. The national debt is growing by leaps and bounds. Our future is mortgaged to the hilt.

We no longer have a clear idea of what we stand for or how to deal with the poverty, drug abuse, obesity, gender bias, and racism that infects much of our population. One of our major political parties has committed itself to voter suppression, sharply curtailing immigration, and courting white supremacists. A $25 billion wall on the Mexican border is their totem, despite its predictable ineffectiveness in blocking undocumented entries and drug trafficking.

Our institutions are not functioning well. The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to maintain their professionalism. The State Department has been eviscerated and marginalized. The courts are being politicized. Big parts of the Federal Government–Interior, EPA, HUD, Education, Commerce–are headed by people who oppose the missions Congress has given them. The Congress itself is polarized and only occasionally able to pass legislation on a bipartisan basis.

Abroad we have surrendered our leadership role. Withdrawals from the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris climate change agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty have signaled disdain for our friends, weakness to our enemies, and lack of confidence in our ability to cooperate with others to mutual advantage. It will be very difficult to convince anyone to enter into a future agreement with the United States, as we have proven unreliable and unpredictable. Our only friends abroad are the would-be autocrats of the world: Xi, Putin, Kim, Duterte, various Crown Princes, and Netanyahu.

We continue to rely excessively on military instruments to try to shape the world to our liking. Unwise threats of military intervention in Venezuela and an ill-considered declaration that we would use the American troops remaining in Iraq to counter Iran have cast long shadows on otherwise reasonable propositions. Precipitous withdrawals from Syria and Afghanistan announced without laying the required diplomatic basis threaten to end in debacle. We are unable to calibrate the use of our superb military so that it serves the national interest.

Current American weakness comes at a moment of revived, if still far from existential, threat. Russia is challenging US hegemony in Europe and the Middle East. China is challenging US hegemony in the Asia Pacific and in global markets. We are unwilling, though perhaps not unable, to counter Moscow’s roguish behavior. Our response to China has precipitated a tariff war that is as harmful to the US economy as it is to the Chinese.

My fellow Americans, the pace and direction of our Union are speeding us to where we should not want to go. We need to stop the downward spiral before it becomes irreversible. We need to point ourselves in the direction of restoring American ideals. We need to once again show leadership on the international stage and willingness to sacrifice for the common good.

The sooner we do it, the better. The longer we wait, the harder it gets.

The state of our Union is bad. Let’s make it better.