Opinion | Don’t Complain About America, Try to Fix It

Kevin Williamson’s witty lambasting of American politics was fun to read, but it had a serious defect: It contained not one word on what to do about it (“Election 2024: You Asked For It, America,” Review, Dec. 16). He concludes his critique by declaring—tongue only partly in cheek—that he wants to emigrate.

Such futile anguish has become a common perspective on U.S. politics. This stance, which I call “failurism,” began in the 1990s with works such as E.J. Dionne’s “Why Americans Hate Politics” and Philip Howard’s “The Death of Common Sense.” In dozens of books and essays, commentators have been declaring that big government is disgraceful and inept, but they fail to propose a solution.