America: You could stand to take some tips from a few other nations

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Money in politics: Over the past 40 years, you have allowed the inflow of special-interest dollars to overwhelm and corrupt the political process. Congress is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street. The bank bailouts benefited bondholders but not the financial system. There is no reason why your taxpayers should subsidize Wall Street speculators. With Congress in the grip of these special interests, it is impossible to even contemplate reforming the tax code or the regulatory system, much less have an intelligent discussion about a national energy policy.
What happened to your roots as a one-person, one-vote democracy?
The solution might be a constitutional amendment to provide for public funding of federal elections and to restrict, or at least require full transparency about, the special-interest lobbying that has perverted the legislative process.
Government as the problem? “Government” is not the problem, “bad government” is the problem. There is an enormous distinction between the two.
Being surrounded by two oceans — and being so powerful since WWII — has allowed you to become too insular. Your “not-invented-here” attitude has led you to miss many other good ideas. Have a look around the world and see what other countries are doing right:
Canada managed to come through the financial crisis unscathed — what was it about its banking regulations that protected it? Why is Finland the best country for education? Why does Australia have the world’s lowest jobless rate? How are Germany’s highways so darned good? What is it about Japan’s health-care system that has made it the best in the world? Norway has the highest adult literacy level and is often ranked as having the best quality of life; what is it doing right? And Singapore has the highest per-capita GDP and one of the recession’s fastest-growing economies. Why?
It sure wouldn’t hurt you to put your pride aside and take a few lessons from the best ideas in the world.
America, you are 235 years old, and you should be proud of all you have accomplished. You are still the most powerful country on Earth, but if you are not careful, China or the E.U. is going to pass you by.
Enjoy your birthday, but starting tomorrow, you have a lot of work to do. America, it’s time to grow up.