OR
Pick one.
If you live in China, the United States' place in the world is pretty foregone:
"China’s CCTV aired a skit showing four children — one wearing the Chinese flag, another the American, another the Indian, and another the Brazilian — getting ready to run a race. Before they take off, the American child, “Anthony,” boasts that he will win “because I always win,” and he jumps out to a big lead. But soon Anthony doubles over with cramps. “Now is our chance to overtake him for the first time!” shouts the Chinese child. “What’s wrong with Anthony?” asks another. “He is overweight and flabby,” says another child. “He ate too many hamburgers.”That is how they see us."
I guess this would give China's legion of bloggers, the closest thing China has to democracy, a reason to be nationalistic. However, according to Mr, Friedman, even though Americans may stare in shock at China's progress, the sparkle of their skyscrapers (some erected in nine months with cheap labor and authoritarian prodding) should make the U.S. introspective not jealous:
"I am not praising China because I want to emulate their system. I am praising it because I am worried about my system. In deliberately spotlighting China’s impressive growth engine, I am hoping to light a spark under America.Studying China’s ability to invest for the future doesn’t make me feel we have the wrong system. It makes me feel that we are abusing our right system. There is absolutely no reason our democracy should not be able to generate the kind of focus, legitimacy, unity and stick-to-it-iveness to do big things — democratically — that China does autocratically. We’ve done it before...For democracy to be effective and deliver the policies and infrastructure our societies need requires the political center to be focused, united and energized. That means electing candidates who will do what is right for the country not just for their ideological wing or whoever comes with the biggest bag of money. For democracies to address big problems — and that’s all we have these days — requires a lot of people pulling in the same direction, and that is precisely what we’re lacking.“We are not ready to act on our strength,” said my Indian friend, “so we’re waiting for them [the Chinese] to fail on their weakness.”
I agree with Mr. Friedman and his democratic friend: if India and the U.S. want their democracies to thrive it takes solidarity not infighting. If the "poll-driven, toxically partisan, cable-TV-addicted, money-corrupted political class" of the U.S. weren't so occupied with scoring points against the opposing party then perhaps we could all unite together and get things done.
I don't agree with Mr. Friedman's other friend, the pessimistic Mr. Schell, that building the Hoover Dam, erecting the Golden Gate Bridge, putting the man on the moon, or any of our earlier accomplishments are "hallmarks of our childhood culture" and I certainly don't believe that “the very retro notion that we are undisputedly still No. 1 is extremely dangerous.” We're still undisputed "No. 1." and we can remain that way. If the United States plays its cards right, we're just getting started. One of Mr. Walt's friends says:
"One participant (a distinguished economist), was especially bullish [as in a prosperous bull market in economics]. He argued that the United States enjoyed a considerable demographic advantage over Europe, Russia, and Japan, largely due a higher birth rate and greater openness to immigration. These societies will be shrinking and getting much older on average, while the United States will continue to grow for some time to come. He also argued that the United States remained far more entrepreneurial than most other societies, and a better incubator of technological innovation. Despite our current difficulties, therefore, he was optimistic about the longer-term prospects for the U.S. economy and for America's position as a global power."
An article that Mr. Walt later links also touts America's strong points:
"Consider this: We are the world's only superpower. We have 309 million citizens and control 3.79 million square miles of land. At $14.3 trillion, we have the world's largest economy. We make up two-fifths of the world's military spending. It is virtually impossible for our enemies to beat us physically. Even if by some unimaginable turn of events terrorists were able to destroy every building in the country, the citizens who remained would just move to West Texas, stick a flag in the sand while singing God Bless America at the top of their lungs and start to rebuild. We're just like that, we Americans."
However Mr. Walt and Ms. Payne also note a caveat in American primacy - the direction of our politicians' choices. Mr. Walt places some of the blame on some "boneheaded" foreign policy decisions:
"A big part of the problem, however, is that the United States has chosen to do a few things that are very difficult, and where failure is to be expected. Like nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan...You don't see the Chinese trying to do anything silly like that, which may be one reason they are looking more competent these days. (I'm not saying they actually are, however, because China's own development plans have some significant downsides too). But no matter how much we try to spin the story ("the surge worked!") our dismal record in Iraq and Afghanistan makes the United States look like it doesn't really know what it is doing...In short, regaining an aura of competence isn't just about trying harder, or restoring the work ethic and "can do" attitude that we associate (rightly or wrongly) with earlier eras. It also entails picking the right goals and not squandering time, money and lives on fool's errands."
Ms. Payne believes our politicians aren't putting things in perspective and are being frightened into dwindling away America's prosperity:
"So since you can't destroy the land that is America; in order to destroy us, you must kill the idea that is America - the principles that brought us together in the first place and that bind us now, even when we fall short of realizing them. Our worst enemies don't want our body. They want our soul. Like the devil, the only way they can get it is if we give it to them. Unfortunately, politicians are racing to sign the dotted line."
Mr. Walt concludes that we need to stop setting up straw men and indulging in media madness so that we can see the big picture and tackle bigger problems:
"Given America's innate strengths, our greatest enemy is neither some emerging "peer competitor" nor a handful of angry terrorists. Rather, the greatest danger lies in the foolish things we are likely to do to ourselves. I don't think we are courting complete disaster, mind you, for the reasons noted at the beginning of this post. Instead, we are just going to miss a lot of opportunities, cause more trouble abroad than we should, squander money and lives to no good purpose, live less well here at home than we might, and generally fail to live up to many of our cherished ideals...So are you an optimist or a pessimist? Will America's innate advantages trump its politics? Will the core institutions of the country (including the media), eventually sober up, realize that actions have consequences, and start rewarding responsible behavior and reasoned discourse as opposed to buffoonery and fear-mongering?"
I'm definitely an optimist and our nation needs more of them. We can beat China. For too long now people in the United States have been acting like the sun is setting on our empire and letting China have a free reign. Who says we're down and out? Despite setbacks, our way - democracy and free market capitalism - still works. We need to get up off our lapels, tone down the played-up conflict between our two political parties and stop being distracted by the Middle East. Only then will the sun not even begin to rise on our greatness.
- Ryu
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