Fareed Zakaria posted an excellent piece on his website March 3 2011:

Are America's Best Days Behind Us?

I first read Mr. Zakaria's work years ago when he was doing a regular column for Newsweek. There was always something unique about his writing: a sense of clarity, the perspective of someone who isn't entrenched in one dogma or another. It was one of the things I missed most when I cancelled my Newsweek subscription. Not so much from being tired of its pages but more having less time to read them. I also suspect they stopped offering me the new subscriber rate.

Anyway, if you'd like a thoughtful, non-partisan, intelligent read on the reasons America is where it is and where it may find itself without thoughtful guidance, look no further.

--Jack