Whoever Wins, America Will Still Need to Turn Itself Around

National renewal will require elites to buy into a project of far-reaching reform.

- Rana Foroohar

On Nov. 5, Americans will vote in what will probably be the most consequential presidential election of our lifetimes. The candidates couldn't be more different, but the challenge left to them will be the same—how to renew a sense of national purpose and dynamism in a country that may well have reached the peak of its competitive powers.

America is still enjoying its post-pandemic growth spurt. But major economic, political, and social headwinds lie ahead. Partisan politics will not end with this election; indeed, they may get worse. Productivity is slowing, the population is aging, social media silo-bubbles create division, and the country faces competitive threats from China and other emerging markets, which are increasingly banding together in their own post-Washington consensus alliances.

Yes, the U.S. still has a dynamic business environment, great universities, rich natural resources, and a relatively robust industrial base. Yet it struggles with bureaucracy and inefficiency in both the public and private sectors, a self-interested elite, a workforce that isn't tooled up for the 21st century, and a desperately weakened sense of national unity. Most importantly, America today no longer has a common purpose, or even a sense of what the common good might be.

Can the ship be turned? Such recoveries are rare but possible, according to a Rand Corporation report titled The Sources Of Renewed National Dynamism. This looks at hundreds of years of history to examine how, or if, great powers in crisis can regain their sense of purpose.