9.11 and the Doomsayers

Dear readers, many thanks for bearing with me during the last days. I've had difficulties writing but now it's time to get back to work.
Let's focus on what the entire world is focusing on - the 10th anniversary of September 11.
Americans are of two minds, I think. First, they are aware of the danger of an attempt to launch an anniversary attack on them and so they are trying to be alert and stay rather close to home. As my sister said a few days ago, there won't be any big celebration in her town, but every building will fly the American flag, the symbol of America's never-wavering patriotic spirit. And, second, most Americans will, as the citizens of any other nation so assaulted, reflect on America's place in the world.  
And, there is the real question. America's place in the world.
September 11 has, if we listen to the TV and radio analysts in almost any country, changed the world forever. As proof, they tend to cite the changes since 9.11 in America itself :

 - less room for personal freedoms as the need for security and its handmaidens, surveillance and control, gain the upper hand. Americans seem to be willing for the moment to accept this as the price to be paid for feeling safer. They have even accepted a definition of what is "fair" in war that sometimes contradicts their principles.
 - greater military costs as wars have been undertaken in Iraq and Afghanistan to try to encircle and destroy the terrorist groups responsible for the 9.11 attacks. This will most probably change as budget reduction becomes ever more important in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 world financial crisis, and we will see American military costs fall back to their traditional levels as it becomes clearer that counter-terrorism is not successful if pursued in wars but only when undertaken quietly and covertly.
 - the perception that America and Americans have lost forever their sense of exceptionalism, that they are "lost souls" who today don't know who they are or what they want of themselves or their government.

I think there is some truth to all of these comments, but I doubt strongly that America is lost or that her best days are behind her. Such observations come mostly from Europe where there is an almost universal sense that Europe as a concept is dying, that nation states will again take over their individual destinies and that the European monetary union will not survive. In Asia, there is less commentary about America's collapse and more about her future role in a Pacific region whose balance of power is shifting rapidly from one led by Japan to one led by China, an as yet unknown quantity when it comes to leading the region politically or economically.
As for being "lost souls," perhaps the truth is that the American sense of loss is more local than cultural or geo-political. Americans are becoming disgusted with their political leaders at all levels. They are asking the tough questions about domestic leadership that have not been asked since the end of the Civil War. This, for me, is not a sign of collapse or despair, but rather a sign that Americans are gathering steam for a renewal, one that will sweep out the political liberalism of Franklin Roosevelt and all who have succeeded him, with the exception of Ronald Reagan.
The period from 1932 to 2012 does not reflect either the American spirit or its constitutional foundation. The talk of forming a third party is part of this process of shifting back to America's roots - personal liberties, individual responsibility, helping those who really need help but not by making them permanent wards of the nation, and the sense that America is that shining exception created by the divine power to show mankind what being human means. 
So, I'm not counting America out. I'm not even worried about her future. She will be just fine. Everyone needs to clean house now and then. Right now, it's America's turn. But, when the clean-up is finished, America will be there, strong militarily but not bullying, a powerful economic and technical force to drive the world's progress, and open to the students and immigrants of the world who come in peace to help make her greater.