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Cheer Up, America!
by David Gergen
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we are still strong, resilient people
when we pull together		   Cheer Up, America!

by David Gergen

Parade Magazine - April 2010

Americans are gloomy these days. When asked by pollsters whether the country is on the right or wrong track—a widely watched barometer of the public mood—a majority have been saying “wrong track” for almost five years in a row. Some 60% think we are in decline, and nearly 70% believe that we have a leadership crisis.   

I confess that I often wake up discouraged, too. But rather than wallow in national self-doubt, it helps to remember just how many mountains we have climbed already and how many strengths we still have. A little cheering up will lighten spirits and fortify us for the tough journey ahead.

Remember back in the mid-'60s how disgraceful it was—and how insoluble it seemed—that a third of Americans over 65 lived in poverty and more than half had no health insurance? Today, less than 10% are impoverished, and every senior has insurance. Only a third of young children attended nursery school or kindergarten in the mid-'60s; today, some two-thirds do. 
 
I grew up in the segregated South where blacks had a hard time voting; today more than 10,000 African-Americans hold elected office—and the United States is the first Western nation to elect a black President. Women were taught to stay home, curb their ambitions, and not interfere. As in other areas, change is still too slow, but today more women than men are getting college degrees; they are the majority in top law and medical schools and constitute 17% of the Senate. Businesses owned by women are responsible for a reported $3 trillion in revenue and employ 16% of the workforce. Women are presidents of Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Brown, Penn, Michigan, Miami, and more—a nd are doing fantastic jobs!

Remember, too, in the 1970s, when waves of criminal violence swept over us and in big cities people were afraid to venture out after dark? Now nightlife bustles from San Francisco to Boston, Chicago to New York. Since 1993, the year before New York City introduced its innovative methodology, CompStat, grand larcenies are down more than 55%, homicides by 76%, and auto thefts by 90%.

Americans rightly worry today about jobs and about the economic ascendency of China and other Asian nations. But we still have the capacity to win out because we remain the most creative, entrepreneurial people on the globe. There are more than four Chinese people for every American, yet Americans have won 30 Nobel prizes in science and economics in the past five years, while the Chinese have been awarded one. Even though our numbers have fallen some, Americans earned 49% of new patents, the Chinese, 1%. In the most recent statistics available, the U.S. also accounted for a fourth of peer-reviewed research articles in the world and a third of research and development investments, and we continue to grant more doctorates in engineering and science than any other nation.  

All of this has helped us stay at the cutting edge of innovation. For three years in a row, the World Economic Forum has rated the U.S. either No. 1 or 2 among the most competitive nations in the world (outranked only by Switzerland). These investments in the future not only create high-paying jobs but breakthroughs in long-standing problems. For almost four decades, we have been searching in vain for energy independence. Now, thanks to R&D investments by private companies and the government, we have found ways to access incredible amounts of natural gas right here, in places like Pennsylvania—gas that could make us more self-reliant and is cleaner than coal and oil.  

None of this is to soft-soap our problems as a nation. We are in trouble on many fronts. But enough of the gloom and doom; we are still strong, resilient people when we pull together. “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing,” Winston Churchill once quipped, “after they've tried everything else.”