What made America strong?

Ezra attributes American economic power to geopolitics (natural resources, not getting beat up in World War II).

David Brooks attributes it to education and economic freedom.

Who's right? I think Ezra's argument enabled Brooks' argument. Relative peace made it easier for the United States to invest in education instead of in rebuilding broken bridges and buildings. But economic freedom and education played a role as well - the United States' smaller government and lower taxes did enable more economic success (if not more happiness for most of its people) and the United States was able to be a dues ex machina in the two World Wars partially because of technological advantages we had, which were at least indirectly attributable to public education.

Also worth nothing from Brooks' column is the following:

Third, it’s worth noting that both sides of this debate exist within the Democratic Party. The G.O.P. is largely irrelevant. If you look at Barack Obama’s education proposals — especially his emphasis on early childhood — you see that they flow naturally and persuasively from this research. (It probably helps that Obama and Heckman are nearly neighbors in Chicago). McCain’s policies seem largely oblivious to these findings. There’s some vague talk about school choice, but Republicans are inept when talking about human capital policies.

Unlike every other blogger on the planet, I have not read Grand New Party (What? I'm a poor college student and books are freaking expensive), but that seems a very GNP-ish argument to me.