America’s Dangerous New Era Demands a New Kind of Greatness

You can tell Tom Klingenstein is a good leader by his focus on mission. He proposes “preserving the American way of life” as the new why of the Republican Party. Klingenstein’s essay sets a powerful frame for understanding America’s escalating ideological divide.

To succeed, we must combine his attention to mission with two other ingredients: urgency and vision.

This week, of all weeks, it should be obvious to anyone paying attention that we cannot take for granted America’s continued success as a nation. Yet many Republicans have a situational understanding of America that is stuck in the 1990s. The rise of Trump shook things up, but the prevailing party Zeitgeist remains high on Chamber of Commerce talking points and end-of-history self-satisfaction. Party leaders come across as complacent, stale, and unserious. Where is the sense of urgency?