Strolling through midtown New York last night, on the way to my hotel and an early night, I was briefly accosted by four good people from Austin, Texas. They were in town for the New York marathon and a few days rest and recreation. The (sober) women had run the marathon, while their husbands had been on a drinking marathon. The men were attired in bright red bathrobes worn over their clothes – bought from the front desk of a smart hotel downtown because it was colder out than they had anticipated. Pretty cool robes, don’t you think? they asked me, as we waited for the lights to change on 5th Avenue. On hearing my response in a British accent they only wanted to talk about one thing.
Asked one: “Is the world laughing at us? Not us in our robes. Is the world laughing at America?”
A bit, but it’s no longer funny. Many people in Europe are deeply worried by what is happening in the US and are watching this election in something approaching terror.
As we were about to go our separate ways, one of the marathon runners said that she had found the campaign shaming as an American. Her biggest concern was the message it sent to her children about what kind of country they live in. She couldn’t vote for either Trump or Clinton. He, she said, is a disgrace, while Hillary is untrustworthy. With a heavy heart she went for the first time for a third party, for Gary Johnson the Libertarian party option.
It is tempting in this context to be downbeat about America’s prospects. As someone who admires the place and its past – and gives thanks almost daily for Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Hank Williams, Maria Schneider, Woody Allen, Gram Parsons, Spinal Tap and the Simpsons – here are my five reasons to be optimistic about America’s future.
1) Demographics are on America’s side. People want to live in the US. It produces the stresses and strains of the immigration debate, but in an ageing West (look at Germany and Japan) America is a place that aspirational people want to get to to make their way in life and raise a family. Immigrants go where they sense the opportunity is. It is where people want to be.
2) Technology. America is built (and has been from its earliest days) on competition, which is what drives innovation and technological improvement. This meant that the digital revolution in communication and commerce came from America. Not China, the immitator where freedom (essential for intellectual competition) is not on the agenda. Of course, the transformation had input from scientists and inventors outside the US. But it was America where it all came together, and it has only begun.
3) The US is good at reinventing itself. Its people are resourceful; it has energy, literally via shale; its best universities are world leaders; its armed forces are hardened and well-equipped; and although its governing system is imperfect, it is designed to constrain government and ensure that even a crazy president cannot do too much damage (that’s the theory).
4) When the election is over, there will surely be a full reckoning with the extraordinary reality that Russia and its surrogates have had success in interfering with the democratic process, undermining the West with cyber warfare, all the time aided by useful idiots in the West who should have known better. If it is Clinton who wins then there is a chance – a chance – for the West to begin doing what it must do. That is, understand what Russia is up to and pull together.
5) Those four people from Austin in New York for the marathon. Lots of Americans are not the caricature and not full of Trump-style hatred and resentment. They want their children to grow up in a better country. And their husbands’ bathrobes worn on the street were just great, obviously.
