There were many other books/articles/documentaries with the same doom-and-gloom published since.
I think most people don't understand America. So maybe an immigrant like me can help: the United States isn't an enduring superpower because it's an eternal and permanent amazing place free of problems. Its unique power of self-healing and course correction, combined with its plentiful resources and human capital, is what makes it great. When everything seems lost, when everybody says "this time is different, it's the big one that will end America", our system finds a way out.
I won't argue about whether the current administration and wars are good or bad. I'll just say that we'll overcome, like we always did, our problems.
- America will stop being the superpower, the only one
There was a point after the fall of the Berlin wall and before China joined the WTO (and for an indeterminate number of years after) where America's status as the sole superpower was indisputable.
It will take generations, if it's even possible, for the US to recover its standing in the eyes of the world, and that standing was the core of our power.
"Fixing ourselves" is critical, but just the first step. There's a huge amount of additional work after that.
The same was said about W. Also elected twice.
We then saw 8golden years, before the orange president.
So I would wait a bit before being able to say "good riddance, everything will be ok now, USA is saved"
Ah yes, the golden age of extrajudical assassinations of American citizens, forever wars, the rise of the surveillance state, imprisonment of journalists amd whistle blowers, and the deterioration of race relations. Tell me more of this golden age.
The European empires were commercial ventures, extracting raw materials for the workshops and factories at home. These empires were already weakening in the nineteenth century, because social changes at home meant that practices like slavery were no longer acceptable, thus increasing the cost of administering the colonies, and decreasing profitability. The solution was what we now call the rules-based order, and means that European-style legal systems control business across borders, so armed force need not be used to enforce contracts. It also pooled all the European empires into one system, so everyone could buy resources from anywhere, and the local elites (like my ancestors) who once had to be bought off can become corrupt politicians, so the West can disclaim any responsibility.
The MAGA movement's foreign policy forsakes this extraordinarily convenient system for the older system of explicit, militarily-defended empires. It brings the US into conflict with every power that matters in the world except Russia. The US will have to spend an awful lot on the Department of War to maintain its economic exclusivity arrangements, of the sort it is currently building with Venezuela. Theodore Roosevelt said, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick,' but MAGA has chosen to scream into the void about how big its stick is instead.
"The solution was what we now call the rules-based order, and means that European-style legal systems control business across borders, so armed force need not be used to enforce contracts."
I wonder how Europe got there? Maybe they all decided to talk through their problems.
The rules-based order was first proposed in late Victorian Britain, as part of a wider debate as to how the British Empire should evolve, but yes, the World Wars made the idea a lot more attractive to much more of the world.
"The End of the American Era" was published in 1970:
https://www.amazon.com/End-American-Era-Andrew-Hacker/dp/B00...
There were many other books/articles/documentaries with the same doom-and-gloom published since.
I think most people don't understand America. So maybe an immigrant like me can help: the United States isn't an enduring superpower because it's an eternal and permanent amazing place free of problems. Its unique power of self-healing and course correction, combined with its plentiful resources and human capital, is what makes it great. When everything seems lost, when everybody says "this time is different, it's the big one that will end America", our system finds a way out.
I won't argue about whether the current administration and wars are good or bad. I'll just say that we'll overcome, like we always did, our problems.
- America will stop being a superpower
- America will stop being the superpower, the only one
There was a point after the fall of the Berlin wall and before China joined the WTO (and for an indeterminate number of years after) where America's status as the sole superpower was indisputable.
is it because each batch of immigrants is always rehabilitating it :3
(second gen)
"Fixing ourselves" is critical, but just the first step. There's a huge amount of additional work after that.
It’s a sad age when I can’t tell if OP is hyperbolic or just actually that retarded.
- Leonard Cohen https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-what-is-coming-21603-annota...
Well, he certainly gave it the ol' college try—and it did take quite a while to recover from his presidency.
Forever wars, the Patriot Act and a financial crises that took years to recover from under another president?
The MAGA movement's foreign policy forsakes this extraordinarily convenient system for the older system of explicit, militarily-defended empires. It brings the US into conflict with every power that matters in the world except Russia. The US will have to spend an awful lot on the Department of War to maintain its economic exclusivity arrangements, of the sort it is currently building with Venezuela. Theodore Roosevelt said, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick,' but MAGA has chosen to scream into the void about how big its stick is instead.
I wonder how Europe got there? Maybe they all decided to talk through their problems.