Why I'm an Optimist About the US

As I've watched the European debt crisis grow, I've gained increasing optimism for the future of the US. Here's why.

• First off, where else are you going to go if you want to invest? Say you're a fund manager and you're looking for a place to stash your cash. The US is the place to be. Europe has shown it's addicted to spending and is on the path to ruin. With a debt load about double of Greece's and population decline, Japan only looks healthy. China's got a housing bubble to beat the band. Brazil is great, but their economy is still relatively small and prone to wild swings due to foreign investments. The US is the place to be.


• The party of the ravening parasites is going to get obliterated in November. The Democrats' only chance lay in the possibility of a global recovery. Europe is crushing those hopes on a daily basis. President Obama has been the perfect leader for these times. An unabashed econofascist with huge majorities, he's followed the course prescribed for decades by liberals and the result has been ... monster deficits and anemic growth.


• The Republicans are being changed by the Tea Party. There are many reasons to hope that the old borrow-and-spend Republicans are on their way out and will be replaced by sanity. See also: Utah, Republican insurrection of.


• The Internet is changing the way national politics is played. It's a decentralizing force that takes power away from the organizations that have led us here. The Tea Party is a creature of decentralization.


• When you stop and think about it, we're just one Margaret Thatcher revolution away from being in really good shape. Sell GM, Chrysler, Fannie, Freddie and all the rest, roll back ObamaCare, cut regulations and voila! things aren't so Peronist any more. It's very doable.


• We still have liberty and a dislike for government in our DNA. In a recent interview, Mark Steyn made the point that in Greece, they're rioting for more government spending. In the US we're in the streets marching for less.

There. That's my first cut on why I'm an optimist. In the short run it's because there's nowhere else to go. In the long run it's because whether President Obama and his historically illiterate comrades want to admit it or not, there really is such a thing as American exceptionalism and it's based on rugged self-reliance.

Besides, who wants to argue with Fozzie Bear?