> In answer to our own question, yes, the state of the union has been worse. There was a bitter war between the states that ripped the nation apart in the 1860s, Franklin Roosevelt’s handling of the Great Depression was egregious, and there were moments in the 1960s when it appeared the country had lost its way. The 2020s so far are more like the late 1970s, when Jimmy Carter, having no idea how to leverage America’s immense advantages, used the office of the presidency to try to soften a national crash. > Except in the case of Biden, the decline is by design. He’s not trying to minimize the damage of a wreck he could avoid. He’s accelerating as we head for the ditch.