Summary #1

Summary #1 ENG 1520

The article I chose to summarize for ENG 1520 winter semester’s 2010 first blog was “The Decline and Fall of Declinism”, an article written by Alan W. Dowd. According to the biography presented at his website, “Alan Dowd is an award-winning writer with experience in opinion journalism, public-policy research and communications consultancy”, as well as being “nationally recognized for his commentaries (www.alanwdowd.com)”. According to They Say, I Say, our English book, Alan’s articles have appeared in American Legion Magazine, the National Review Online, in addition also to Policy Review. The article that I will be summarizing today, “The Decline and Fall of Declinism” appeared in The American on August 28^th, 2007.

No surprise it is that these are tumultuous times. America was hit hard this past decade. The September 11^th tragedy was a welcome present to the decade and other disasters such as hurricane Katrina, not to mention political strife and the war in the Middle East don’t create much more solace. These are the basis of Mr. Dowd’s article, but what he is actually arguing for is that America is not in as tragic of a decline as some might allude to. Armed with numerous financial statistics to prove his reasoning, Mr. Dowd sets out prove his stance - Declinists are, in his opinion, spreading misconceptions again (Dowd, p 405). In fact, with regard to the Cold War, Declinists stated that it was actually other nations, and not America, that lead the way towards victory. Apparently, the Declinists are arguing similarly again describing America’s current state as “the decline and fall of the greatest industrial republic the world has ever seen” (Pat Buchanan, p. 404); that Katrina exposed “a hollow superpower” (Polly Toynbee, p. 404); and that “It will not be the New American Century”, (Hassner, p. 404).

Early on in his article, and in accordance with recommendations from our English book, Dowd states his position, or argument: “The Declinists were wrong yesterday”, [continuing] “And if their record-and America’s-is any indication, they are just as wrong today” (Dowd, p. 405). Dowd’s main arguments presented were: 1) America’s enormous economy at 13.13 trillion dollars, comprising 20% of the entire world’s and larger than all of Europe combined; 2) That the U.S. economy is growing fast, faster than were it to be compared to even China’s young booming economy; 3) That the American worker is becoming ever increasingly more productive (statistically doubling circa 1996-2006) and; 4) that according to The New York Times, the current technology-driven “productivity miracle” thriving in America is still discernible in other nations (even in those of full economic maturity).

Dowd continues on with his own interpretation of current situations by asking what other country right now could survive such crises requiring such capital to correct recent quagmires. According to Dowd, the United States has dusted itself of and forged forward economically. Conglomerating his whole argument, America’s response and resilience has been nothing less than remarkable for a nation in such decline.

On a personal note, I was honestly not all that that familiar with declinist theory until reading these articles in our book. That is not to say that I have not however noticed economic and perhaps even sociological health-related differences in our current day and age when compared to, say, even the late nineties, the time frame with which I am most educated; and fond of truthfully. What I’m trying to say is that money isn’t everything and, in this author’s opinion, isn’t significantly determinate in of itself as a tell-tale sign of progress or well-being.

Randy Johnson

Eng 1520 (Sat) 12-2:55pm

Highlands Lakes