MICHAEL LOTUS: The transformation of the USA — here comes America 3.0.

Today’s political regime is like legacy software, built for an earlier world.

Institutions of the 20th Century welfare state that once looked permanent are crumbling. The old operating system has been kludged so many times it won’t work much longer. It has to be replaced.

The time-worn liberal-progressive wisdom is simple: See a problem, create a government program to fix it.

ObamaCare proves this approach no longer works. . . . The government shutdown, and the failures of ObamaCare, are dramatic symptoms of an old systems reaching its end.

But this is a time of transition, not decline.

I highly recommend his book with Jim Bennett — especially as reading for 2014 and 2016 aspirants.