Simfan34
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Posts: 15,744
Political Matrix
E: 0.90, S: 4.17
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« on: January 14, 2013, 10:38:28 AM » |
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« edited: January 14, 2013, 10:43:31 AM by Simfan34 »
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Of course it is. Other countries are now more capitalist than we are- Singapore. Others have more robust economies, namely China, which is pretty much the same size as we are at this point, and on an upwards trajectory. Others are freer and more democratic, more "American" in governance and practice than the US- Switzerland, Australia, and Canada come to mind. Our HDI is shamefully low, our Doing Business score out of the top five, the education and health indices are even worse. The United States, at this point, is a large mediocre nation. Problem is there are larger ones, and better ones.
We wasted our clout in a useless quagmire in Iraq, with a laser-like focus on the Middle East to the detriment of every other region in the world, with the result that China is now breathing down our metaphorical neck in Panama, for crying out loud. Africa is in some ways a Chinese protectorate at this point. It sounds incredulous, but when they build the African Union's headquarters, it says something about the state of relations. Imagine if China paid to build the Capitol and we sent Hillary Clinton to Beijing. This is what happened in Ethiopia- Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin is now Ambassador to China.
The United States is becoming more irrelevant by the day. Worst part is, the time for us to act was fifteen years ago or so. Now the only way to change trajectories is to change our competitors- which is nigh impossible. No, it's not Obama's fault. He's not really helping, but it's much more Bush's and his predecessors- going back to say, Nixon. Even Harry Truman shares a very specific portion of the blame, although he can hardly be blamed for lack of foreknowledge.
The United States is in decline- absolute decline. Just because some random columnist says it is not so does not make it not so. I never cared for E.J. Dionne, anyway.
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