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The United States of America was basically founded as an expansionistic agrarian republic (or at least by 1801 and Thomas Jefferson it was). That was before the Industrial Revolution, so the agrarian has been supplimented with industry and manufacturing. Up until 1900 the country was still expanding via newly acquired territory such as Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The last Continental territories became states in 1912. (the Frontier closed in 1890). The last state admitted to the Union was in 1959. By 1960, the expansion had more or less stopped and the country began to stew because of it. One temporary reprieve was the Space Race to the Moon, but that ended quickly since we were not colonizing the place, nor really colonizing anything in Space, even with stations like Skylab or the ISS. The Industry has been shipped overseas as the country has become more service oriented than manufacturing. Of course then one has to ask, how do you provide service jobs to several hundred million people?
Basically the country is not like it was in 1801, but I have the feeling the people are still geared like they were in 1801. They still have that "pioneer spirit" that wants to expand. Or they have a desire to build stuff, and without a manufacturing base, they can't fulfull that desire (not the high end building, I'm talking autoworkers, steel mills, and contruction workers type stuff).
I contend that we (as a county) need to expand to keep out people interested and "happy". There has to be someplace else to go that is new. We still have a "its new" culture in consumerism with the need to buy the newest car or clothes or whatever. Translate that back to new lands, and you would get people moving there because it is new, or there is adventure, or there is profit.
But where to expand? Canada and Mexico? Already populated with people similar to use. That would be annexation and no one would need to move to either location. That would add a lot more stars to the flag (30 more for Mexico and 12 for Canada)
Middle East? That's kind of going backwards isn't it? Plus the natives are a lot more hostile that the Native Americans, and more heavily armed.
How about place were there are not humans presently? The Oceans? Space? Up or Down are the viable option for a new frontier. Both have potental resources to collect for business instrests. Both have intersting dangers to overcome. Both require heavy amounts of investment in sciences and engineering t make viable for civilian populations.
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