“Time to Reboot America”

It’s not often that Thomas Friedman and I see eye to eye on things but I think his latest column is pretty good, “Time to Reboot America.”

With the current economic recession that we’re in, this IS NOT a time to throw in the towel and look to the government to save us with loans and bailouts.  This is a time to hunker down and think harder about solving the problems that have been troubling us.

Here’s a passage from Friedman’s column:

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people’s imaginations. That’s really, really dumb. And that’s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.

John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

While I agree 100% with Friedman’s sentiment about America’s abilities and strengths, I’m not sure I agree that we’re just surviving or getting by right now.  There still are people who’re innovating and solving big problems, with little resources.  We need to lift those people up and let them be examples for the rest of the world.