No Longer Rome, Not Yet Greece. Andora?  In a press conference
today the president vented his frustration at the latest
example: partisan cliffhanging about lifting the country’s debt
ceiling. The obstacles lie both in Washington, where the heart
of the problem is the supermajority hurdle in the Senate, and in
many individual states. A magnificent constitutional framework
of checks and balances, designed to prevent the return of
British tyranny, has atrophied into a system that makes reform
almost more difficult than revolution.  And this, too, is
familiar from history. Over time, superpowers acquire
dysfunctionalities which they can carry because of their sheer
plenitude of wealth and power, rather as a super-strong athlete
can carry deficiencies in technique. When your strength wanes
you suddenly need the technique; but it may be too late to get
it back. Beside technique, there is the all-important
confidence. But the old American can-do optimism is shaken. Even
those who most loudly proclaim American excep