Despite current gloom, America's future is not dark

Happy July 4 weekend. It's time to wave flags, watch parades, ooh and aah at fireworks, think patriotic thoughts, and seriously contemplate the state of our great country.

Both American citizens and America's politics are hurting right now. We're seeing job losses, foreclosures, and a very sluggish economy. In politics, we see gridlock, anger, stalemate, and deep divisions. Are America's best days behind her? Will our children have as good a life as we've enjoyed?

Webb: America has had darker days, but not for many decades. It is my Baby Boom generation, unfortunately, that is leaving America in a dire predicament. As individuals, households and governments, we have borrowed and spent far beyond our means. Our big homes, expensive cars and other trappings of wealth are, in too many cases, built on mountains of debt. For decades, politicians have won plaudits and popularity by handing out government services costing far more than tax revenue available to pay for them.

Such a fantasy world cannot continue forever, and so today massive debt must be wrung out of both households and government — at enormous pain and disruption. Our political leaders, especially at the federal level, face painful choices, and we don't know yet if they will face reality and do the hard things that must be done. Realistic solutions will require cooperation and compromise, not politically motivated grandstanding designed to win the next election rather than solve America's problems.

Still, I remain an optimist. I believe we will face these challenges and conquer them. I believe my children and grandchildren can have fulfilling lives. I believe they should go to school, start careers and businesses, raise families and expect to enjoy the American dream.

Pignanelli: "Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has emerged from these stronger and more prosperous." — Thomas A. Edison. In the half-century of my existence on this planet, I have absorbed countless admonitions from "experts" that America was close to ruin from economic collapse or military weakness. Allow me to recount these absolute unequivocal threats to our existence (in convenient chronological order): Sputnik and our loss of the space race, communist worldwide domination, OPEC control of energy, West German economic dominance, Japanese economic and technological superiority, unstoppable European Union expansion, and now the rise of India and China. Clearly, history is on our side.