Many of the newspaper columns in this collection focus on the leadership and issues involved in the decline of our American "exceptionalism" since the beginning of the new century. Our society is changing, our values are changing and our ability to deal with the economy, the environment, and social issues is compromised by the infighting in Washington. We may have the power, but our riches are more and more concentrated in the hands of the rich, as the middle classes struggle to recover from the 2008 economic crash, and now the global pandemic. Our wars in the Middle East continue. And, as we all know, our own government still is violating our civil rights.