Superpower

We hear a lot of speculation lately that China will be the next superpower. With the amount of money we currently owe the Chinese government (with our dear President having borrowed more from them during his 5 years in office than all previous Administrations combined), there are also those speculating that perhaps the United States’ days as a superpower are coming to an end.

Personally, I think the rise of another superpower might just be one of the best things to happen to this country in a long time... as long as we’re smart enough to recognize it and act accordingly.

Consider that right now, the United States is the bully on the playground. We’re essentially the only seventh grader in a field full of fourth graders. This has given us a superiority complex, from our leaders at the very top down to the lowest of the flag-waving masses.

Right now, there isn’t anyone on the playground who can seriously challenge us, and so we’ve stopped caring what anyone else thinks of us. We’ve come to believe that our own petty political in-fighting has honest, world-wide importance and have effectively given the finger to everyone who doesn’t fall in lock step behind us.

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, it wasn’t that way. Certainly there were aspects of the cold war which were much to be concerned about, but we were relatively evenly matched. That meant that instead of merely bullying the fourth graders into following us, we had to engage in diplomacy. Those smaller countries might not be as strong as we were, but enough of them lined up behind our fellow big kid could be enough to topple us.

Consider also that although there’s a certain insecurity involved in having an evenly matched opponent, there’s a certain level of stability and sanity required in order to GET to superpower status. Right now, we’re the world’s policeman, stepping in anywhere we feel the game isn’t being played our way. We’re also the world’s target, as we learned (and as the President is unable to go more than two days without referencing) on my son’s 8th birthday, 9/11/2001.

Right now, we have the extreme insecurity of knowing that there are people out there small enough to avoid our detection, with enough will to actually hit us in ways that hurt, and the insanity to think that this sort of attack is moral and proper.

Now, the question remains, will we react correctly or in time. I really don’t know. It may be that we truly are living in the declining days of the United States era, and that our great nation will never be the same. But maybe, just maybe, if we recognize the advent of a superpower China, we’ll start behaving like responsible citizens again.

That is, if the rest of the world can ever forgive us our ham-handed diplomacy, our use of torture, our attempts to dictate policy to the United Nations, our refusal to take part in global treaties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and a hundred other actions spawned by our over-developed sense of self worth.

Liam.