Victory, what is it? What would it mean to “win” in the field of world politics? Simply, to win is control, dominate, and prosper. Whenever and wherever this victor nation will rise is questionable, but it will be easily noted when the time comes. A victor nation will hold the following characteristics: 1) control of the majority of global resources, 2) a large, self-sustaining, well educated, and “well-to-do” population, 3) a quickly deployable, large, technologically superior military, 4) control of global commerce through its currency being the “main currency of global business,” 5) control of global institutions, 6) the majority of transnational corporations headquartered in its borders, 7) a direct claim of a large section of territory on the Earth’s surface, 8) leading space program and dominate control of activity within Earth’s orbit. Essentially, a world political victory would revolve around three fields: economic prosperity, military dominance, and technological progression.
The entities that have closest in history to a “hyper-power” status are the Macedonian Empire, the Roman Empire, the British Empire, and the United States of America. These four “Empires” have had the leading economies, the strongest militaries, and have held the most cutting edge technologies of their respective eras in time. And, as we can see from the lessons of history, a global victory is certainly not easy. None of these empires have made it. The U.S. has come closest, rivaling even the Roman Empire in historical perspective, but has also failed – gradually losing hegemonic authority. We are riddled with political strife, social disunity, impending hyper-inflation, and an over extended military force.
So, what could be the key for a U.S. world political “win”? The process would proceed as follows: step 1) the creation of a political confederation of the two dominate U.S. political factions behind an established “American National Front;” step 2) utilization of the political unity to deregulate the U.S. economy and privatize many government responsibilities; step 3) encourage the rebirth of American heavy industry by slashing corporate taxes and deregulating wage laws – make the U.S. a new “tax haven” for transnational corporations; step 4) regain unilateral control of the United Nations, WTO, IMF, World Bank, and other global institutions; step 5) lead the global community in space exploration – establish a permanent presence on the Moon, place a man on Mars, perfect the International Space Station system, and acquire orbital dominance.
This only a small fraction of the necessary steps for a “New American Century,” but they are key steps that would allow the United States of America to remain the global hyper-power for at least a few more decades. The fact of the matter is that the U.S. simply cannot lose its grip on the global community. If our nation ever so much as falters in the slightest degree of international control, the world will descend into a horrible state of extreme disorder, violence, and poverty. We are the bread basket of the globe, the world police force, and the leader in information technology. Let us remain as such.
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ReplyDelete"If our nation ever so much as falters in the slightest degree of international control, the world will descend into a horrible state of extreme disorder, violence, and poverty."
ReplyDeleteI found this quote from your entry intriguing. Are you suggesting that the world is currently in a state of order, peace, and prosperity? There is not a single country in the world that can claim to be in such a situation, including the United States itself. Our politics are complete chaos because of politicians' inability to cross party lines, our country sees incredible amounts of violence just like the rest of the world, and we too have our fair share of the struggling masses. If this is what the journey to "victory" looks like, then I would say that victory does not seem to be promising at all.
The progress that the world has made as an international community has much to do with international cooperation. We cannot be "the bread basket of the globe" without strong economic relations with other nations. We cannot be "the world police force" without alliances. We cannot be "the leader in information technology" without foreign intellectuals.
I think if the downfall of the United States was ever to happen, it would mostly resonate within the United States itself and not as much in the global order as you suggest because this would merely provide an opportunity for another global power to take its place.
American companies like ConAgra, Pfizer, Phillip Morris USA, and Microsoft dominate the markets they occupy, supplying the world with the most products of those market fields. The U.S. military ALREADY operates as the world police force, in case you were unaware. We are currently deployed in 116 countries worldwide. We supply the world with grain, corn, tobacco, and even the raw commodity of "pork bellies" (which aren't actual pork bellies). So, when you say the collapse of the United States (which is quickly approaching as our budget deficit is reaching ever so closer to 20% of our GDP) would "resonate within the United States itself and not as much in the global order" you are greatly underestimating what our great nation actually does. Without American strength and wealth, the Chinese would lose their "cheap product" market (Wal-Mart, Nike, etc.), the Russians would lose nearly half their natural gas sales, the Middle East oil market would collapse, and the vast and mighty U.S. military would not be able to ensure Western peace and prosperity by clearing the way for Western corporate interest.
ReplyDeleteIn liberty, may the United States remain, or, God forbid, we shall see the fall of security and freedom in the West.