That's a pretty funny story, Carolina.
I tend quite liberal, generally, and I don't really feel much like stepping into much of the "Obama is this, Romney is that" discussion that is already going here. One critical point, however, that I feel that is not being touched upon is the fact that education, or the increasing lack of it in the US, is probably the largest reason why we are where we are now.
Many of you speak of the coddled youth that are out there right now. I, in large part, agree, and it especially frustrates me with families that meet the historic "family" definition -- 2 parents at home, happily married, a couple kids, a cat, a dog, etc. Something happened along the way (I don't profess to know what), where parents have been more concerned about being cool and friendly with their kids, as someone mentioned earlier. That said, there are a LOT of youth who are not coddled, and their families do not fit anywhere close to the definition I mentioned previously. There are a LOT of kids out there who are living in poverty, who are going to school and happy about it because the only place where they may get something close to a balanced meal is school (not a Reagan ketchup packet, mind you -- OK, I didn't want to step there, and I apologize, but that quote, even if mistakenly attributed, always makes me chuckle).
I honestly think that the biggest problem facing our country right now is the failure to invest in our youth. Yet, education is costing so much more than ever before. Starting at the higher education level, tuition rates have expanded well beyond what normal inflation rates have dictated over the past few years (recall our own tuition hikes at UR, put in place to become "more prestigious." I certainly don't think UR is the only one that is facing those issues -- universities, with the ranking systems to which they are subjected, are constantly needing to keep up with the Joneses). Related to this increased hike, now, if you, as an individual, fail, and go bankrupt, the only thing you cannot get out of paying is your student loans, which are so much higher than ever before -- what's that all about?
Moving on to primary and secondary education, which is more critical than higher education, we (the US) are falling behind other countries drastically due to many things -- early childhood education; nutrition and health (the idea of a food desert is frankly very scary); No Child Left Behind (a bipartisan disaster -- this was something where the two parties DID try to do something together, and in my opinion, failed completely); more cut teacher jobs than ever before; etc. The outlook for the education system in place in the US right now is very bleak.
What are other countries doing that is causing us to fall behind and allowing recent US grads to be a young work force that is drastically under-prepared compared with other countries, which is another unspoken reason for "losing jobs" to places like India and China right now, in my opinion? They are investing heavily in every child. They want them to succeed. There is no "my parents are rich and so should I be!" attitude, for the most part. They want those who prepare children (teachers) to be qualified, and to succeed. Teachers are respected, not hammered for being a burden on the pension system.
In Finland, being a teacher is considered as prestigious as being a doctor or a lawyer -- the selection process to become a teacher is as rigorous as that of a doctor or a lawyer -- all teachers are required to have masters degrees. They are paid well, and rightfully so, I think. After all, they are somehow responsible for trying to get our coddled youth back on track somewhere along the way, right? We can't count on the family system that used to exist to be in place, because we would be lying to ourselves. Therefore, it falls on educators. In Finland, educators are not getting screamed at like they are on the boardwalk in NJ by Chris Christie (a Republican, but this, again, is not necessarily a partisan issue. Being originally from NJ I am seeing a lot of his antics, and I really don't like them). In Finland, because of this training, they are left alone to best educate their children as they see fit. They are the experts, and should be left alone -- they have received enough training to be officially responsible to educate the children in their classrooms. They don't have to worry about teaching to a test or whatever, but they can instead find the most appropriate way to educate the children in their classroom, period. Teachers are not being thrown into a den of lions, left to their own survival devices. Finland has a lot of nice things going for it, don't get me wrong -- there is something nice about being able to teach a fairly homogenous society. But, the point remains clear -- they want to invest in their children. So does China. So does India. Why don't we? Why aren't we doing this?
Finally, education will help our folks get through this mishmash of political pettiness. Politics at the national level have become such a machine that we are all simply along for the ride. What Obama does is hardly different from what Bush did, which was hardly different from what Clinton did.
I like the original question a lot -- the "those Donkeys/those Elephants" responses notwithstanding. I personally think further concentration on and investment in our education system will help us get back to making things work better -- I think it's likely the only way.