Some Serious Concerns For 2006

Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton has written another op-ed piece for the Indianapolis Star.

(You can catch it and other good articles at Real Clear Politics.)

The historians have their lists of significant events of 2005, the psychics have their lists of predictions for 2006, and now a highly intelligent statesman has compiled a list of things he strongly believes will be serious problems, in the coming year. He calls them worries, I call them serious concerns.

But whatever you call them, they are things that are going to have to be dealt with, sooner or later. And the sooner they are, the better.

Which means there will also need to be a productive meeting or two, where someone (with an office, a desk, and a pen) can formulate some common sense ideas and plans, to combat some of things that Mr. Hamilton says he's worried about.

I don't hear of many. Has anyone?

Now, don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for Lee Hamilton. And this essay is an outstanding assessment of the problems we will be facing. But in spite of these astute observations, this essay is weak on solutions. I'd like to think that most Americans have enough sense to know and understand that what Lee is saying, is true. But the fact remains, until we can start to hear some ideas for solutions (coming from somewhere), these things are going to fester out of control and will create havoc for not-so-distant, future generations.

Let's take a look at Lee's take:

There is also no potential rival to U.S. power in the near future...

I strongly disagree. There is one.

China.

Russia is run by the mafia and will never be able to outproduce the United States, with that kind of structure. Europe will probably forever be enraptured with Karl and his writings, and that won't get it done. Iran and other rogue nations have the potential to be dangerous and could do an enormous amount of damage. But China and only China, does have a realistic chance at pulling it off.

If these troubling trends are to be turned into opportunities in 2006, effective governance will be key. We need to implement effective solutions to these emerging problems, so that order replaces disorder, fledgling democracies are inclusive and not divisive, instability is addressed and not ignored, economic opportunity is more widely shared, and the international system is better able to keep pace with international challenges.

But with all due respect to Mr. Hamilton, restating the problems over and over does very little to solve them. Most intelligent Americans that have the ability to think independently of a party dogma, can figure out what the problems are. They are all around us, open and plain for everyone to see.

But, it is that handful of truly great minds that need to step up to the plate and give their best swings. And then, it will be up to the rest of us to support them and not tear them down, for partisan political purposes. This task at hand will require people that don't give a damned about party politics, but care that we remain the greatest nation in the world and that we as a nation are as safe as possible to do what we do best.

And that is, practicing freedom.