Terence Corcoran asks this provocative question in the March 19, 2009 edition of the Financial Post.

Here are a few excerpts from his column:

Is this the end of America?

…One test of whether we are witnessing the end of America is how many more times Americans put up with congressional show trials of individual business people and their employees, slandering and vilifying them for their actions and motives. And for how long will they tolerate a President who berates business and corporations as dens of crime and malfeasance? If the majority of Americans come to accept the caricatures of business as true, then America is closer to the end of its life as a global leader, as a champion of markets and individualism.

…Reform of health care, environmental policy, education, energy, banking, regulation — every nook and cranny of the U.S. economy has been put on alert for major change. Expansion of government spending, plunging the U.S. into unprecedented deficits, is without parallel. In economic policy, through regulation and control of energy output, financial services and monetary expansion, the U.S. government has embarked on a fundamental reshaping of America. It is designed, in short, to bring on the end of America.

Corcoran also discusses the recent massive expansion of the money supply caused by the Federal Reserve and the risk of inflation.

So is this the end of America? I hope not. And it won’t be if enough people are willing to speak out against our current path and also stand up for the right ideas.

But we’ll find out soon enough.