The West is ensnared in a debt crisis. The United States, as everyone knows, came perilously close to defaulting on Aug. 2, and Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. debt from AAA on Aug. 5.
In Europe, the outgoing head of the European Central Bank recommends more centralized fiscal authority in Europe in order to deal with likely defaults by one or more of Greece, Portugal and Spain.
Both Europe and America can learn a lesson hidden in American history. Lost in the haze of patriotic veneration of America's founders is the fact that they created a new country during — and largely because of — a crippling debt crisis. Today's crises, one hopes, could be turned into a similar moment of political creativity.