We need an enemy. The Soviets made the US better. We have identified both Global Warming and China as our current external enemies(terrorism seems to have fallen off the radar for now), but we're not fighting them like we did the Soviets. There is a lack of national purpose and a seriousness which is needed to focus our efforts on survival. Right now we're more focused on fighting each other and while some of our efforts to clean up our political and justice systems may bear fruit they may be irrelevant if we don't survive as a nation.
There's more profit scamming middleclass Americans (and their government) than there is in competing on the global stage. The idea of the rising tide lifting all ships is no longer followed within the country (or Mexico, UK, etc) as it is in other countries.
