Just a year ago, in the Irving Kristol Lecture at the annual AEI dinner, columnist Charles Krauthammer rhapsodized about America's "global dominion" and our having "acquired the largest seeming empire in the history of the world."
The Bush administration simply does not live in the real world. The neo-conservatives are basing their philosophy on a vision of American superiority that simply isn't consistent with any facts. Newsflash neo-cons- the rest of the world is not afraid of mighty American power...
Russia's Putin is consolidating power in the czarist tradition, seeking to resurrect Moscow's old sphere of influence, and is conducting military exercises jointly with Beijing.
And openly contemptuous China lectures us on our failure to rein in our voracious appetite for imports, which is sending the dollar the way of the peso. Beijing refuses to pressure North Korea to terminate its nuclear-weapons program, permits Pyongyang to use Chinese territory to transship missiles and nuclear materiel, and spends a goodly slice of its $160 billion trade surplus with America to build up air, naval, and missile forces for the showdown with Taiwan.
And finally, he rightly concludes that Bush is putting America on the road to financial disaster making us a serf-nation (appropriate given the passage of the recent bankrupty bill I think)...
I am heartened by the fact that there still are thinking conservatives like Buchanan, but I fear that the republican party under Bush is driving the free-thinkers out. In many ways, I worry about what will happen to America when our "empire" collaspes and we are faced with economic crises similar to those the Brits faced under Wilson.
If Bush is allowed to continue to pursue these policies, America may become a mirror of our southern neighbors with a small number fo rich people holding all the wealth (it is arguable that this has already happened) and no social mobility. In some ways this is a dire prediction, but I think practically speaking the loss of American's dominance will mean a lower standard of living for our children. Because of this administration's continued arrogance (appointing Wolfowitz to the World Bank), we have given the rest of the world no reason to help us when we fall. The rest of the world might get some pleasure out of seeing us properly humbled and who could blame them?
I also cross-posted this at Kos. I think it is a pretty honest take on what America's current position is in the world and I think the comparison to Fourth Century Rome is pretty apt (but I am sure no one cares to read a whole long diary about why). I have been thinking about comparisons to Rome for quite a while now and worrying that American is an empire on its way out. I was hoping we could have a soft landing, but with Bush's policies, I just don't think it is going to be possible. I worry about what this new world order will be and whether a multi-polar world where China and Russia are major players in necessarily good. I am very supportive of European integration, but I am afraid they may overstretch.
I keep thinking about this popular grade school story where Ben Franklin is sitting and looking at the back of a chair in Independence Hall and remarks...
I worry that the sun is finally setting and I keep trying to wrap my mind around what that means for American identity, society, and politics? Sure this is not the end of days, but I wonder how we will react to being a lesser player and the impact it will have on our economy? Will we smoothly transition like Britain ?
[Update]: there are two other articles worth reading over at the American Conservative:
The Living Room War, America's New Nationalism
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