Clint Eastwood is right when he says we need to ask:

“How do we come together? How do we win?”

He also said Detriot is winning. There has been progress, but we are not winning yet. Not Detroit, not America.

In any contest: football, boxing or global economics, players need first to recognize where they are. It feels great to say we are doing well – but in reality we have a long way to go. Detroit alone once accounted for more global manufacturing than our entire nation does today.

Patriotism and flag waiving feels good, but like cheering and positive attitude on a sports field it only gets you so far in the world today.

Eastwood is great: we need to get together and fight to make things better. To do so we need a real plan. We cannot simply say “America is great because we say we are great and because we say it enough, we will lead the world again.” It sounds good, it makes us feel good, but it’s too simple.

We must take a good hard look at where we really are in the game. We need to ask how China is beating us. We need to ask why so many other countries are improving so much faster than us, how we can rebuild better and quicker. We need to study our global competitors and ask what made us great in our heyday. What is America really about? What made us great? Immigration. Freedom. Pioneering spirit. Innovation. Our values. What made us great and will bring us back again.

We know, in our hearts that something is terribly wrong with this country. We see miles of empty buildings in Detroit, Fresno, Hartford and everywhere in between. We cringe at the increased infringement on our rights by Homeland Security, with police macing and tasing our young people and frisking senators and old ladies who they know are no threat. We know in our hearts that it is un-American to have government seize our money to give it as bonuses to failed bank executives. We know it’s wrong when our doctors, workers and business people spend more time on regulations than customers. We don’t recognize an America where politicians seek to regulate the Internet, where we assemble and how we speak. We know it’s wrong to send our brave young soldiers to kill and die in undeclared wars in countries who are no threat to us. Our founding fathers saw a nation where we each have free will and responsibility for our destiny not a nanny state which takes our money and freedom and gives it to bureaucrats.

When you get beaten down in football, boxing, the global economy or life, bold speeches, cheering, positive thinking and ego won’t help you win. You need a serious plan to get back into the game. You need to train, learn, analyze your strengths and weaknesses, see where the other guy is beating you, see where you’ve been best and use that as a strategy to get back up off the mat. To fix America we need massive action. The kind of action we saw when we expanded the frontier. The kind of bravery that fought back Adolph Hitler. The kind of drive and ingenuity that realized JKF’s vision of landing a man on the moon. The work ethic that built Detroit and the Hoover Dam and the freedom that allowed us to change the world of technology and the Internet. It’s not talking or hoping that will make us win, it’s action. It’s telling the politicians to get out of our way and let people have the freedom to fix this mess we are in. Ask what makes America great and do it. If you need a guideline, look no further than our Bill of Rights. It’s time we use them again. We can’t be knocked out with one punch. To win the fight we’ve got to punch back. And we’ve got to do it with the conviction that our founding fathers had when they said “Give me Liberty or give me death.” and they meant it.

by Bruce Fenton