As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, our pride in successfully reaching this milestone must be tempered by the challenge we face: ensuring a strong, secure, and resilient nation for the next 250 years and more. 

There is a clear, albeit difficult, path forward. First, revive, reconstitute, and reconfigure America’s manufacturing base. Second, within the confines of the U.S. sphere of influence (encompassing the homeland and the rest of the Americas), assemble and build critical supply chains with respect to the technology, energy, and food sectors that are vital to our economic and military security. Third, put in place a pragmatic fiscal framework that defuses the huge, ticking federal deficit bomb while encouraging private sector-driven, sustainable economic growth.