While Obama stressed international competition, the need for the government to continue to play the role it has in the past in supporting innovation, and that business, and innovation, in many other countries is heavily subsidized by their governments. Republicans seem to take things like this for granted. To me it seems that, above all, they believe it isn’t America’s capacity for innovation that makes America great, its America’s ideology. Obama mentioned that America was the only country founded on an ideal. It seems many would like for America to remain number one, and this ideal alone, mentioned by Ryan, will be enough. Ideology isn’t enough; nor is America being god’s favorite nation enough, and some would like to believe. This is the disconnent with reality that permeates the Right’s rhetoric.

Furthermore, great sacrifices, primarily monetary, by both rich and not so rich, are needed in order to balance the budget. The deficit is huge compared to the cuts being proposed. It seems few politicians are willing to face up to this, perhaps because they don’t want to ask Americans to sacrifice anything. (Not a recipe for winning elections I suppose.)

Kennedy had explicitly asked American’s to contribute to the greater good at the time of America’s last Sputnik moment, and American’s responded. But with the political climate as it is now, Kennedy might be branded a socialist if he were to give the same speech today. And this perhaps for no other reason than to win an election; a republican could say something similar, “Country First,” and be considered a “patriot.” What does it really mean though to say “Country First”? “Tax Cuts” first, or simply “Leave Me Alone”? I believe that the contested meaning of a phrase like “Country First” lies at the heart of America’s problems. It isn’t the American people that make this problematic as much as it is political machines during their quest to say whatever it takes to win elections.

Yet perhaps an ideology has still died; I’m not sure which one though.