It seems inevitable to me that, given enough time, the United States of America is doomed to an end state similar to that facing Germany after it's recently ambiguous election.
The late economist Mancur Olson argued that the downfall of democracy would be its tendency to calcify into special-interest gridlock. Germany's extensive welfare state has created millions of voters who fear the loss of any benefits. Combine that with voters in eastern Germany who cling to outmoded notions of state support and you have an formidable challenge to bring about real reform."The lesson for America is do not go down the road as far as Germany has," says Horst Schakat, a German who created a series of successful businesses in California for 30 years but retired to his native land in 2001. "You may find yourself unable to go down a different but correct path once too many people have become dependent on the state."
Occasional revolution is required to break up this calcification, though it need not be violent if undertaken in a timely manner. However, were there political will to foment a liberty-enhancing, non-violent revolution, then perhaps such a thing would not be needed at all. More likely America, the oldest republic on the planet, will eventually stagnate and be overtaken by the nations just now emerging from under the boot of totalitarianism.
It's not quite so drastic a state as the WSJ article makes it out to be. It'll cost the FRG, sure. What will happen is drift, disgust, failure, possibly some deaths, and a massively enlarged FDP a decade from now.
There's no need to be so pessimistic, Michael. A nation's future comes from the desires and willpower of its citizens. If its citizens want the country to exist, then they'll almost always find a way to make it exist, no matter how weak or imperiled it is. But if enough of the citizenry wants the country to die, if they hate their fellow citizens categorically and openly mock the idea of patriotism, then the nation will soon fall, no matter how materially wealthy it is.
At its core, a nation is an idea, not a set of buildings or legal documents. The nation exists because people believe in that idea. Take that belief away, and the nation will fall.
If you want to be gloomy on America's future, contemplate how many Americans today active want our country to suffer, and our troops to die. But then consider how many more such people wanted the country destroyed back in the Civil War. Yet we survived it somehow.
So be of good cheer. We've survived gridlock many times before. More importantly, the Kill-America crowd, both at home and abroad, has reached its high-water mark.