tying the future
i get that “win the future” is slogan rhetoric and meaningless in the greater sense, but it twinges the nerd in me. you can’t win without setting out a goal beforehand and define the conditions for losing.
the way the phrase was presented in the state of the union it came across as a subtle endorsement of the notion of american exceptionalism, a stupid and counterproductive belief, with the goals the president presented sounding like facets of that greater idea of american superiority, and not as de facto ends in their own right.
america should stop comparing itself to everyone else and set it’s targets using objective measures: balanced budget, a growing renewable economy, a shrinking GINI index, and heavy investment in education. defining yourself as “more influential than china” is stupid.