“We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons. We passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn’t belittle it; it didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election… and we didn’t scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered.” — News anchor Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) answering a question at a Northwestern University forum in The Newsroom (HBO).
McAvoy made these comments after explaining why, according to the metrics, America was “first” in only three categories (defense spending and incarceration rate) and wasn’t the greatest country in the world. He then cited other metrics where the U.S. lagged (e.g., literacy, education, life expectancy, infant mortality).
A quick check of these and several other metrics as of 1990 versus today reveals that the U.S. has fallen even further behind in virtually every category. Why 1990? Because in 1994 Newt Gingrich and the GOP ushered in the winner-take-all/personality-not-policy/me-first politics that cripple us to this day.
Today, America now ranks 57th in being informed (press freedom), the First Amendment notwithstanding. Trump and his ilk are the antithesis of what McAvoy described (and I believe) and his attacks on the media and other institutions promise more decline.
Stop griping. Start fighting.
Craig Coburn, Holladay
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