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Op-Ed Columnist

The Crossroads Nation

By DAVID BROOKS

Published: November 8, 2010

They are vague because nobody is clear about what sort of country America is going to be in 2030 or 2050. Nobody has quite defined America’s coming economic identity.

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[snip]  creativity is not a solitary process. It happens within networks. It happens when talented people get together, when idea systems and mentalities merge.

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In 2009, Anne-Marie Slaughter, now director of policy planning at the State Department, wrote an essay for Foreign Affairs in which she laid out the logic of this new situation: “In a networked world, the issue is no longer relative power, but centrality in an increasingly dense global web.”

Slaughter’s essay was titled “America’s Edge.” That is apt. Americans are now in a depressed state of mind. As China and India rise, nearly two-thirds of Americans believe their nation is in decline.

In fact, the U.S. is well situated to be the crossroads nation. It is well situated to be the center of global networks and to nurture the right kinds of networks. Building that America means doing everything possible to thicken connections: finance research to attract scientists; improve infrastructure to ease travel; fix immigration to funnel talent; reform taxes to attract superstars; make study abroad a rite of passage for college students; take advantage of the millions of veterans who have served overseas.

The nation with the thickest and most expansive networks will define the age. There’s no reason to be pessimistic about that.

Full article

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I agree with Anne-Marie Slaughter.   In fact, U.S. is well positioned to be the crossroads nation because of the good work of Hillary Clinton in network building. 

I wish Anne-Marie Slaughter was more into politics...