Has USA Declined Internationally Since Trying to Outsmart Everyonewith Technique?

This topic is sort of an outgrowth of a comment I saw somewhere from a
Scandanavian that the US spends too much time on technique (implying
they're ignoring the basics). And certainly the most striking thing
about US Skiing in the past few years have been dogmatic (and
ungrounded?) statements about new "right ways" to ski...

And while I don't follow World Cup racing that much, to quote Len
Johnson: "This is pathetic. What has happened to the US X-C ski
program? We have a lot of skiers, but with few exceptions we are
getting nowhere internationally."

Is an obsession with "new skate," "new double pole," etc. a
contributor?