The United States has been dragging it's feet in agreeing to accept just ten thousand Syrian refugees and now even that trickle is on shaky ground when Congress voted 289 to 137 to disallow President Obama's bill passage in the house. It may take a Presidential Veto to force this issue into compliance.
Of all the world's nations, the United States was the country that opened it's doors widely to the dispossessed and homeless. For more than a century Ellis Island saw an endless stream of the unwanted from other countries create the " melting pot " that became the richest and most powerful nation on the planet. This mix of people was immensely creative and America became the source of inventions and trends that changed the world.
That was an America that cherished the " can do " culture. After the end of the second world war it was the Marshall plan money that rebuilt Europe and whoever held the position of president was freely acknowledge as the leader of the free world. That was also an era when partisan politics took second place to the national interests. Compromise and deal making across the aisle was political reality.
That is not the situation today. The Republican party has captured a majority in both Congress and the Senate and has developed an implacable hatred of all and everything that the President proposes, and a small hard core of Republicans seems prepared to shut down the government and let America default on it's bills, rather than compromise and do " deals " !
Government in America has become " unworkable " at a time when the economy is on a fine balance and major issues need resolution. Vast numbers of over stayers are illegally in the country and many have been there for generations. A path to legal citizenship is urgently needed, but that is anathema to one side of politics. The national budget needs to be balanced and critical money bills resolved but at best these issues are simply " kicked down the road " and left to be settled at a future date.
Next year will be an election year in America and all the indications are that little will change. Years of boundary gerrymandering mean that few seats have any practical hope of being contested and the main issue will be from which party the president is chosen. Even if the new president is of the same stripe as the majority in both houses, so deeply partisan has politics become that stalemate will probably remain. The views held by a small minority do not correspond with the will of the people.
Unfortunately, this political failure in America is happening at a time when American leadership is critically needed to deal with changes in world affairs China is emerging as the major power in the world economy and fast building a military might that will achieve world parity. Russia is embracing nationalism and has shown a worrying expansionist propensity, and we now have a religious war in the Middle East that seems likely to develop into guerrilla action delivering civilian terrorism attacks by Muslim extremists. American has been sending confusing signals about it's intentions.
Vladimir Putin has stepped into the Middle East cauldron with his military might and that could influence matters in ways that we in the West dislike, but if American politics continues in disarray Russia may seize the moment and adopt the foremost leadership role. Europe is distracted by both the EU problems and the tsunami of refugees flooding in over it's frontiers - resulting in a political vacuum on the world stage.
Basically, a religious rebellion that originated in the mind of a man named Osama bin Laden has expanded to create a growing insurgency that is drawing in players from world countries and has become a declaration of war against the rest of the world. We look to America to lead the world's response and it is now apparent that political disharmony has neutered the United States decision making process.
Nature is said to abhor a vacuum. From sheer necessity, the baton of power will pass into other hands !
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