The trajectory is scary

From "The Federalist" blog (edited):

From Iran to Syria to China, America's foreign policy position has collapsed with shocking rapidity.  Simply put, our foreign policy is incoherent.

Unrest will certainly increase in a weakening global economy, but a different crisis may prove more troublesome in the long term: a crisis of legitimacy within Western democracy, one that has gripped the American system in the wake of the mismanagement of elections, disasters, wars, financial crises, stimulus packages, bailouts, and now health care overhauls.

Americans are losing faith in the American Dream for themselves and for their children.

The U.S. is in trouble, largely because our politicians are too wedded to social giveaways.  The problem is that they're taking money away from defense to keep domestic giveaways flowing--and two adversaries are well aware of that:  Both China and Iran know we're on a downward, weakening course.  All they have to do is wait, and in a decade or so the once-mighty U.S. won't have enough military power to start a conversation.

But the poor in the U.S. will have free cell phones, and that's worth quite a bit.