Archive for the ‘America’s Decline’ Category

Sad to say, I’m underwhelmed by the new World Trade Center.

I was looking for something really spectacular.

It’s certainly a nice looking building. But it’s the same height as the old World Trade Center. The old one was 1,368 feet.

The new one is 1,368 feet. That’s the height of the highest roof. If you add the antenna spire, it’s 1776 feet — again, about the same as the old World Trade Center.

But the old World Trade Center was TWIN TOWERS.

This is ONE TOWER.

It also looks thinner than either of the old TWIN TOWERS.

The new One World Trade Center is an attractive structure — no doubt about it. Architect David Childs is very good. It’s a gorgeous building.

But the new One World Trade Center is not even as tall as Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). Soon the Chicago Spire will go up.

The roof on that structure will be 2,000 feet, and will dwarf One World Trade Center.

So my question is this: Why not make the roof on One World Trade Center 1776 feet?

That would be pretty cool.

The current structure’s antenna goes up to 1776 feet, but that doesn’t count.

In fact, that reinforces the point that America can’t build a real building that’s 1776 feet tall. We need to put up a little stick that goes that high.

Heck, I could put up a stick that goes up 2,000 feet. But that’s not really a building, is it?

Frankly, why didn’t we just make it the tallest building in the world?

And I’m talking about roof structure here — not a stick on top of the building.

Literally make this thing a monstrosity that can be seen from outer space.

Right now, the Great Wall of China is the only human structure that can be seen from outer space.

Why not have One World Trade Center also carry this distinction?

I was looking for something really big — really spectacular — something that would send a message to the world that “America is Back.”

Instead, we got this.

So now we have One World Trade Center that is about the same height as the old World Trade Center. But it’s one tower, not two.

To me, this appears to be a victory for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

The World Trade Center is now half the size it was.

So bin Laden (dead though he may be) has managed to cut the World Trade Center down to its current size . . . and, by extension, also cut America down to size. So bin Laden is the big winner here. He achieved what he wanted to achieve — diminish America: Show the world that America is no longer the power it used to be.

This is a sad commentary on America’s current political leadership — whether Barack Obama or Michael Bloomberg.

These leaders seem to want a smaller America.

They want an America with a smaller footprint in the world.

Well, we certainly have that now with One World Trade Center.

This is a far cry from John F. Kennedy’s promise that America would land on the moon within 10 years.

Now, we no longer even have a space program . . . of any kind.

America used to be able to do big things, big projects.

That no longer appears to be the case.

It’s more than disappointing that we had to wait more than a decade for this.

The Empire State building stands 1,250 feet to the highest roof, 1,445 to the tip.

It was the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1972.

The Empire State Building took 15 months to build from start to finish.

One World Trade Center took more than a decade to build.

It’s sad how far America has fallen.  We really can’t do anything big anymore.

We’ve become a lot like, well, France.

File this piece under “America’s Decline.”

FAREED ZAKARIA-TIME: I am an American, not by accident of birth but by choice. I voted with my feet and became an American because I love this country and think it is exceptional.

But when I look at the world today and the strong winds of technological change and global competition, it makes me nervous. Perhaps most unsettling is the fact that while these forces gather strength, Americans seem unable to grasp the magnitude of the challenges that face us. Despite the hyped talk of China’s rise, most Americans operate on the assumption that the U.S. is still No. 1.

But is it?

Yes, the U.S. remains the world’s largest economy, and we have the largest military by far, the most dynamic technology companies and a highly entrepreneurial climate.

But these are snapshots of where we are right now. The decisions that created today’s growth — decisions about education, infrastructure and the like — were made decades ago.

What we see today is an American economy that has boomed because of policies and developments of the 1950s and ’60s: the interstate-highway system, massive funding for science and technology, a public-education system that was the envy of the world and generous immigration policies. Look at some underlying measures today, and you will wonder about the future.

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YNET NEWS: “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder,” wrote British historian Arnold Toynbee in the middle of the 20th Century. At this time it appears that Western civilization no longer has the strength, desire and willingness to stand up to its external enemies and especially to face liberal leftist elements within it that do everything in their power to render it powerless.

And so, it took NATO a week to issue the “brave” statement that it will not interfere in the Libyan carnage, it took nine days for the president of the American superpower to condemn the massacre in the country, and the UN secretary general needed 10 days to call for a Security Council session in order to mull “far-reaching” steps such as sanctions against the Libyan regime. This is more or less the amazing effort that the West, with its great military might, was able to produce in the face of a nutty leader and a military that is no match for even a tiny part of NATO’s force in Europe.

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