“We’re a failing nation.” So claimed former President Donald Trump at Tuesday’s presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris .
Trump made this observation as an indictment of the Biden administration . He shouldn’t have said it.
Sure, he has plenty of points on why our government must improve how it operates and whether opportunities are still equally accessible to all citizens. He’s also right that the Biden administration owns many of these problems: a disastrous pull-out from Afghanistan, a period of soaring inflation, a crisis of basic security at the southern border, horrific rates of suicide and drug overdoses — the list could go on.
But we are not a failing nation. America remains a bastion of good and a beacon of hope. We still see the American character at work. That character continues to seek out innovation mixed with hard work in pursuit of a better life. That character still dedicates itself to family and neighbor through self-sacrifice and generosity.
We should recall the enduring part of the American character, especially this week, as we remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001 . That day of great tragedy also displayed great patriotism and heroism. We saw the worst of human nature in our attackers. We also witnessed the better of it in the first responders in New York and the passengers on Flight 93.
Underneath it all, our foundations remain as they were stated in our Declaration and implemented in our Constitution . Our founding sought a liberty that was not license to indulge in fantasies or passions but to self-govern according to common sense virtues. That founding sought an equality not fully realized but fully committed to by America’s citizens. Our views of liberty and equality might suffer tarnish, distortion, and digression. Yet they remain a proud part of our past, an influence on our present, and a possibility for our future.
Calling America a failing state not only is false. It undermines a goal Trump claims to support: a renewed patriotism. To restore America, we need to show not only how to do so and on what principles, but we must also show that America is worthy of our respect and love. This should not be a blind love, one that ignores our struggles and our challenges. Yet it sees that greatness resides much more in Americans now than her detractors, Left or Right, see or at least admit.
Thus, this criticism is not a call to deny any problems for our country. It is a call to properly frame them. Trump could have said “this is a failing administration.” That would have been closer to the truth. The Biden administration has failed to fulfill the campaign promises of 2020 to unite. It has failed to facilitate prosperity for American families. It has failed to protect children in the womb and out from those who fundamentally misunderstand the nature of human life, even biology.
But that isn’t America’s failure. It is a failure of one of her most important public servants. That is no small matter.
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And try as she and her partisans might, Harris cannot extricate herself from this record. As vice president, she holds significant responsibility for where the current White House has missed the mark. But that is not an indictment of our country as a whole.
That should be Trump’s message: America is not a failure. It only has been failed. Let its leaders lead, and it can prosper again as it has throughout these past nearly 250 years.
Adam Carrington is an associate professor at Ashland University.
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