Pulitzer Prize winner George Will insists that this is a great time for Americans to be cheerful about their country.
As the nation grows and becomes more of an influence on other countries, Will said Americans have become even more of a target for extremists.
However, those responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States failed to answer a fundamental question.
“The people who attacked us made two mistakes. First they didn’t realize we were a country capable of producing Terry Bradshaws,” Will said to an eruption of laughter. “Also they failed to asked themselves the question, ‘But then what?’ ”
Comparing today’s government with that during World War II, he explained the United States has been more efficient in countering recent attacks, something the terrorists didn’t realize.
Will made his comments during the Oct. 12 Bakersfield Business Conference at California State Univeristy, Bakersfield.
Will explained that although the country is divided as far as party affiliation is concerned, the division is more of an issue of sensibility rather than over the basic principles of what the American government does.
“In 1972, we were still fighting a ground war of attrition on the mainland of Asia with a conscript army for dual party purposes. Those were bitter days,” Will said. “In the year 2000, George Bush and Al Gore were arguing about their faintly different plans for delivering a prescription drug entitlement under Medicare. That is not … bitter, it’s intensely boring.”
Will contended society today is less concerned about race than in the past.
“If you are walking the streets of any American city, ask anyone you stop to name the three most admired Americans, you are apt to get Michael Jordan, Colin Powell and Oprah Winfrey, with Tiger Woods and Condoleezza Rice coming up fast.”
He also noted that because more Americans are living longer, the importance of having a sound Social Security program in place is a major issue facing the future of America.
The average life expectancy of an American man is 74 and the average for an American woman is 80.
He recited the story of Ida Mae Fuller, who was the first person to receive a regular monthly Social Security check. She paid a total of $24 into Social Security before she retired. She lived to be 100 and collected more than $24,000 in benefits, he said.
Social Security has taken on new importance as the stock market has declined, he said.
“The majority of American households today are participants in the equities market,” he said. “All told, $8 trillion in equity value has disappeared. That is more than the combined gross national products of France, Britian, Italy, and India. That is not chopped liver.”
Despite this loss, Will explained that the economy is still growing and creating jobs, although the technology sector may have outgrown its own limits. He said Priceline.com, a virtual travel agency, at one point had a bidding market capitalization larger than the entire American airline industury.
“It is very difficult to derail the productivity of the American people.”
Some major technology corporations operate without ever making a profit, he said.
At age 5 in his hometown of Champaign, Ill., Will said he sold lemonade on the sidewalk and made more money than Amazon.com has really made yet.
Making a reference to the technology industry, Will recited a quote from economist Herb Stein in regard to the law of holes.
“When you are in the hole, quit digging,” he said.