Un-Civilizing America

Chapter 10De‐civilizing America

As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.

—H.L. Mencken¹

By 2016, Baltimore's acerbic wit was becoming a prophet. And the win‐win world that had made America great was giving way to a win‐lose world of “us‐versus‐them,” zero‐sum competition.

The heyday of the American republic was the interwar period between Korea and Vietnam. The economy was booming. The U.S. had the biggest trade surplus … the strongest manufacturing sector … the strongest currency … and the highest salaries in the world. New York was the world's most dynamic city. California was its Shangri‐La. And the debt from World War II was being paid down.

In the arts, too, America was on top of the world. Motion pictures were the leading artform; Hollywood dominated the industry. As for the plastic arts, nobody did it better than the auto designers of Detroit who, with their sparkling glass and dazzling chrome, created the finest works of art of the century.

Elected in 1952, Dwight Eisenhower ended the Korean War, balanced the budget, reduced U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP by 16%,² and reduced government spending as a percentage of GDP from 20% to 18%³ (not even Ronald Reagan was able to do that). He cut defense spending by nearly 30%.⁴ The Dow doubled, ...