the ultimate message and execute were totally wrong. A populist message of America competing against the world (or at least elements of the world) is much of what we have had that inspired collective push towards progress. You are correct that the underlying message and execution were not forward looking at all and were divisive internally instead of being uniting against a common opponent.

I think the role of government is largely to get out of the way, but I think our leaders (political, business, etc) can set out vision and call for collective purpose and direction and individual sacrifice to get there. This victory garden or Kennedy's not what your country can do for you but what you can do or "buy American" campaigns. All of those asked people to make small sacrifices for a larger purpose - to put dome some of their individual, immediate desires for what together promised to be better for all.

We have no collective purposes as a country IMO because we have no collective goals, opponents, crisis or fights. Its doesn't have to be the evil of Hitler or Stalin, it can be economic competition like Japan in the 80's or China today or even something that isn't a direct human opponent like getting to the moon or determining cheap reliable and inexhaustible energy for the future.

That doesn't mean that the government should solve the problem or take control of everything - but it can and should help eliminate roadblocks, set policies that allow for innovation and development and set some vision for what we are striving / fighting for together.