In the last few years we’ve seen the passage of Dodd-Frank, the stimulus bill, Obamacare, the killing of bin Laden, and the overthrow of Qaddafi. Before that we had Sarbanes-Oxley, No Child Left Behind, the PATRIOT Act, the War on Terror, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq.
But Thomas Friedman thinks our government is broken because it just can’t get anything done. Indeed, we are no longer a democracy but a “vetocracy,” according to Friedman. And unless it can get not only a lot more ambitious but a lot more effective at being ambitious, we’ll never be great again:
I know what you’re thinking: “That will never happen.” And do you know what I’m thinking? “Then we will never be a great country again, no matter who is elected.” We can’t be great as long as we remain a vetocracy rather than a democracy. Our deformed political system — with a Congress that’s become a forum for legalized bribery — is now truly holding us back.
At least he kept from saying how China does it better (because you know there’s no legalized bribery over there). That’ll be the next column, I’m sure.