The U.S. must step up--now!(National Affairs)

• Author: Hagel, Chuck

HISTORIAN Arnold Toynbee wrote that the common characteristic of the world's great civilizations has been the creative response to extraordinary challenge. He contended that civilizations "break down and go to pieces if and when a challenge confronts them which they fail to meet."

That historic cycle of challenge and response always has played to the strengths of the U.S. Today, however, the nation is in danger of failing to meet an extraordinary challenge ... maintaining America's competitive position in the world. Our nation is undermining its vital interests by not paying attention to the big issues.

In Thomas L. Friedman's book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, the author captures the new challenges facing the U.S. and its ability to compete in a global marketplace: "It is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more other people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of the world--using computers, e-mail, networks, teleconferencing, and dynamic new software."

The post-World War II Bretton Woods system, global trade regimes, and multilateral institutions helped lead the world into an age of prosperity. Decades of investment in geopolitical security, economic stability, innovation, and productivity have resulted in a 21st century diffusion of economic power. Today, there is no great competition to paralyze world politics like during the Cold War: nations across the globe are reforming and opening their markets; and the explosion of scientific discovery and new technology is changing every aspect of our lives.

The scale and rate of this change and global competitiveness is increasing faster than the ability to calibrate it or adjust to it. Just 20 years ago, China. Russia, Eastern Europe, and India were not even in the global trading system. World exports went from $58,000,000,000 in 1948 to almost six trillion dollars in 2001. Tariffs dropped from an average of 40% to four percent in the same period. Standards of living rose wherever barriers to trade and commerce tell and investments in education and research and development grew. Technology has spread throughout the world. This confluence of progress is unprecedented.

Meeting the challenge of maintaining the U.S.'s competitive position will require leadership that is capable of creating a national consensus, as well as prioritizing our interests and a clear evaluation of our inventory of challenges and plans to fix them. Deficit spending, health care, energy, entitlements, education, savings, trade, immigration, and infrastructure all are difficult and complicated issues that will affect the future of our country and our competitive edge in the world.

If the U.S. is to succeed, our political system cannot continue to bog down in the mire of partisan gamesmanship, appealing to the lowest political common denominator on issue after issue. The race to win the 24-hour news cycle, to destroy the other party and claim victory at any cost has squeezed out our ability to see beyond the immediate to the larger historically defining challenges of our time. We too often have allowed government policies and our democracy to become captive to marginalized politics, paralyzing the very system that has helped the country prosper. This especially is dangerous because today's issues are so large and complicated that there is little margin for error in addressing them. Leaders must stop this zero-sum game of political destruction. Institutions cannot function without the essential currencies of trust and confidence. We must work to build back that trust and confidence or we will be incapable of any bipartisan effort to provide solutions.

Well-financed and well-organized special interests that threaten, bludgeon, and intimidate increasingly are playing dominant roles in setting the U.S.'s agenda and priorities. Elected leaders must show courage in fulfilling their constitutional responsibilities for protecting the general interests of our country and citizens. Who lobbies for the general good of America? Who is looking over the horizon and seeing large economic storm clouds gathering? Is our purpose in Washington to win or to govern? Governing requires making tough choices, looking at the big picture, and developing a consensus of purpose.

There always will be a legitimate debate over the role of government. This is critically important for the vitality and validity of a...