COLUMN LEFT : A Country Diminished in Possibility : There is rot. But our problems arise from human folly and can be resolved by human effort.

There once was a country called America--imperfect, scarred by spasmodic violence and large injustice--but constituted by a common purpose, a belief in ever-enlarging opportunity for a free people.

That nation is rapidly disappearing. It is being destroyed, not only by its public leadership, but by all those able to influence the course of events; even by those who could have acted or spoken out, but chose to remain silent.

We must all share responsibility for the incredible waste and extravagance, the rampant greed and disregard for long-term consequences, that have characterized all of our public life and much of our private life over the past two decades. We have danced with the piper, and now the piper must be paid.

If a house deteriorates it can usually be restored with fresh paint or a modicum of carpentry. But if the foundation goes there is nothing on which to rebuild. And the American foundation is being eroded, and with it the illusion that distress is merely cyclical, a belief we cling to despite the irrefutable evidence of history that permanent decline has been a constant feature in the story of nations and empires.

And the rot at the foundation is visible and spreading. We continue to accumulate an already unmanageable debt; our industries have become less productive and competitive. Finance--the source of future investment--is in disarray.

More than 40 million citizens are now below the so-called poverty level. They have been are virtually eliminated from the base of mass demand and savings on which our economy depends. Our educational structure is failing to prepare citizens to play a productive role in the life of the country.

The approaching revolution in American politics is fueled by a growing awareness that the political structure has contributed to the accelerating cycle of waste and decline. For a decade Democrats and Republicans alike have sown the seeds of disaster. Indeed, we no longer have a two-party system. There is only one party: the Washington Party. And it has been thoroughly corrupted by private wealth, seeking, immediate profit at the expense of long-term investment in America’s future.

Many, perhaps most citizens, know this to be true. What we call disillusionment or voter apathy is a direct consequence of this awareness. Many people believe that who wins a particular election, whether for mayor or president, makes little difference to their lives or their hopes for the future. And they are right: It has made little difference. However, people are not indifferent to personal distress, fear about future prospects, or their own loss of connection with the American community. Indeed, they are angry, bitter and confused. They are, therefore, ripe for demagogues--for men willing to assault adversaries, real or illusory, and offer assurance that they possess answers.

What was once called the left--the progressive, populist sector of American political life--is virtually non-existent. Unless there is a revival, the emergence of a public movement that puts traditional values of equal opportunity at the top of its agenda, that is willing to rebuild our economic foundation, then the future belongs to the harbingers of a permanent class society and increasing public oppression.

In little more than a decade we have betrayed the hope of centuries--the promise that freedom would companion ever-enlarging opportunity for all. This was a promise, an idea, a purpose, a dream that once fired the imagination of the globe. It is being sacrificed, not merely to blind exploitation of the present at the expense of our future, but to a failure of imagination, of empathy, an erosion of the binding impulse of the human heart to consider each individual life worthy only if it contributes to the lives of our fellow citizens, those now among us and those yet to be born.

It is possible that we may be the first generation of Americans to bequeath the future--our children and their descent--a country diminished in possibility.

But our problems were not divinely ordained. They are the creation of human folly; and they can be resolved by human effort. That effort will will require us to accept a sacrifice in our living standards while we divert our resources--money and vitality--to building a nation capable of enriching the life of our future, a country able to bind to itself the mounting numbers of impoverished outcasts.

To accomplish this will require specific, tangible measures. But they are not beyond our capacity, only beyond our will. We have the resources and we have the people--the same kind of people--ready to respond and to act if we are fortunate enough to find leadership intelligent and courageous enough to point the way.