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The Decline of a Superpower, the End of an Era
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2, 2007
Although history is rife with the fall of superpowers, I never thought that America’s fall would happen in my lifetime. I am saddened and ashamed of what our country has become, not only in my own eyes, but also in the eyes of the rest of the world. This country was once a palace of integrity and an example of what a country should strive for—now we are little more than a punching bag and a laughingstock.
The Bush administration has sold the ideals of the Founding Fathers to special interests and allowed greed and pigheadedness to take the place of morality and justice. Sadly, when the rest of the world thinks of America, they shake their heads and throw their hands in the air. What breaks my heart is not that the world looks only upon the Bush administration as greedy and incompetent, but that they look upon the American people this way as well—and can one blame them for thinking this way when the American people voted this administration into power twice? We, the American people, must also bare the yoke of responsibility of a world less safe, satisfying, and ethically progressive by allowing this administration to do what it has done to the world. If I sound angry, it is because I am. I want my country back. I want to be greeted with open arms and smiles once again when I go overseas, instead of just wanting to crawl into a hole out of shame. Where have our morals gone? What has happened to our sense of decency and respect?
Before Bush took office, this country had a surplus for the first time in its history. We had strong allies across the world, a bull market, reasonable gas prices, the wealthy stayed wealthy, the poor and middle class saw improvement, interest rates were low, we were not at war—in short, we were progressing. Now we have the largest deficit our country has ever seen, we are in debt to developing and other advanced countries, we have few if any allies in the world, the wealthy have become more wealthy, and the poor and middle class have become poorer, our education system is the worst it’s been in decades, interest rates are at an all-time high, inflation is out of control, we are engaged in two wars with no end in sight for either, our country has been rocked by corporate scandal after corporate scandal, global warming has become a myth, corruption the norm, lying acceptable, callousness moral, denial convenient, bullying courageous, and our rights have become malleable. Bush makes Putin look progressive.
As shocking as this decline may be to most Americans, what is even more shocking is the rate at which it has taken place. How can one administration do so much damage to a country in such a short period of time—and in so doing be so impenitent and brazen about it? Corrupt administrations of the past at least went to great pains to hide their misdeeds, which at least conveys that they knew themselves that what they were doing was wrong.The Bush administration, on the other hand, does not appear to even care if what it is doing is wrong, popular, or moral. My stomach churns every time I hear Bush tout that he does not read or care about public opinion polls. What kind of a leader does not care what his people think?
As a political science major it makes me sick to my stomach to reflect on how the Bush administration runs the executive branch of the most powerful country in the world. In my mind it would be more ethical for him to base his policies on a coin toss than on his reason and ideals. It’s one thing to sell our country downstream, but need he laugh at us and rub it in while doing it? As sobering as this reality is, one can take solace in the fact that the Bush administration doesn’t get to choose how its legacy will be looked upon by posterity—the history books and public opinion will choose for him.
America need not be the strongest country in the world if we are the most virtuous, but the Bush administration’s Hobbesian attitude that “the strong do what they want, and the weak do what they must” has isolated us from the rest of the world and fractured and divided us internally. We have reneged on our promises and faltered on our ideals, and in so doing we have caused harm to our reputation and the dreams of our forefathers.
No country can simply claim that it is virtuous like Bush has done—it can only prove that it is through its actions, and America has fallen short. Therefore, if America cannot uphold the ideals of a just system, then maybe we do not deserve the honor of superpower. If we do, however, want to retain our position in the hierarchy of global power then we must all wake up and stay awake.
Americans, we have let ourselves down and we have let the world down. We have defiled a palace. We deserve better—we are better. It’s time for a change. The Bush administration has truly ushered in the end of a great era, an end in which America did not go out on a high note or in a blaze of glory, but one in which we simply went up in flames. Shame on you George Bush, and shame on us all.
The author is a GS senior majoring in political science.
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The author should learn the difference between the words bear and bare and how to use them in a sentence
Obviously you have no argument if all you can come up with is nit-picking about a grammatical error in which the editors at the newspaper also missed. Get a life man. You better learn how to debate better than that or your in trouble in life.You are obviously a neo-con. They always resort to cheap tactics such as this for lack of an argument. You may be able to manipulate the ignorant but not the educated. Hope your parents are proud that this is what their 50 grand a year has amounted to.
Be not upset. It is the normal process, today one power, tomorrow another. So was always. It is not necessary to think simply that you better others, because it not the truth. Nobody the best and not who not the god elites. We in Russia for a long time have already understood it... Though we too think of ourselves well.. :)
The anonymous commentator who didn't know what GS stood for was clearly not a Columbia student or an alumnus/alumni. His knowledge of France was also limited since he assumed the current French president was elected because he was "pro America". First rule in politics, its all local. Mr. S was elected because under Chirac et all, France became stagnant, corrupt, divisive, and the country was ready for a change. US bashing was also getting tiresome. But few in France, regardless of ideology, support the US invasion of Iraq. And everyone not just in France, but elsewhere, believes America deserves better than what this administration has been doing in the name of 300 million Americans in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
However, this Anonymous person was right about Mr. McMorris's misstatements re high US inflation rates and record high interest rates.
Inflation rate traditionally measured has not been high, thanks to global deflationary effect of China making more and more goods at lower and lower real costs. Interest rates in the US in real terms have been high, but not record high. Inflation measured in other terms: commodities, energy, housing, are indeed at or near record high, depending on which specific item is selected.
However, picking on McMorris based on two questionable factoids missed the thrust of McMorris's theme: the decline. That decline is unrelated to inflation or interest rates. By the way, it is highly probable that both will come true down the road as the US dollar continues its unstoppable decline unless something fundamental gets done in the next administration to reverse a very strong trend.
US deficits (both fiscal and foreign) are paving the way for a disastrous reckoning. For one the record low US dollar against even the Canadian dollar and now against the Euro and eventually against even the Chinese RMB when it decouples from the US dollar will mean US living standards in real terms will go down and down and down unless and until the US balance sheets are returned to a healthy state. And that will not be easy when a nation got addicted to "free lunches".
Empires often, if not always, collapsed because the national coffers are doing in only one direction: south. A depleted economy is certainly a necessary, if not a sufficient, precondition for the fall of an empire. Just look at how the Brits, the Dutch, the Spanish and of course the Soviet Empires fell. They ran out of money.
The US growth of past several decades have concentrated in a very small segment of the population.
Check the data and you will see the vast majority of Americans have NOT improved their real income over many years.
Deficits, lower Dollar, growing inequality of income and wealth, declining global moral standing and accelerating RELATIVE decline of global military reach -- now tied down unnecessarily and unsuccessfully in Iraq -- are all symptoms of a very serious degradation of a once mighty global power.
McMorris was certainly correct in pointing out this fact, even if Bush et al refuse to recognize it or unable to acknowledge this....Mr. McMorris raised some very serious issues for the nation. Any American who cares about the future of this country should be justifiably worried. Petty put downs exhibited by this GS ignorant commentator in this context and elsewhere I have noted in the context of the Iranian persident visit to Columbia suggests strongly to me that the quality of intellectual discourse has been degraded. Very worrisome indeed. sin-ming shaw CC67
alumnus/alumna
alumnus/alumna, of course. typo. thanks anyway.
You can't get away with calling that a "typo!" Just kidding. Got our blood pressure up? Peace, out.
Who can take this commenter seriously when he doesn't even know what a GS student is? You better do your research Mr. anonymous.
Who are teaching these students? "Interest rates at an all time high" "Inflatation out of control". How can anyone take this gentleman seriously when he does not know what he is talking about. Does he even read the newspapers.... the new French Premier was elected based on his pledge to become closer to America.
What is "a GS senior"?
General Studies, fourth year. What's so complicated about that? However, all else you post is correct.
"and can one blame them for thinking this way when the American people voted this administration into power twice"
are you sure it was twice?
Mr. McMorris, Empires do indeed come and go. Pax Americana, once the most admired and loved, in the world, more so than Pax Britannica, will be no exception.
However, not all is lost - yet. The "End" does not have to be now, or soon. USA is still by and large a benevolent, magnanimous country. It can still do good. But we are indeed in the late hours of the day.
What is obvious to the rest of the world is that US of A and so many of its citizens have become arrogant, certain in their beliefs that their way is beyond reproach.
That attitude is a close cousin of "fundamentalism".
Former Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, a privileged graduate of Princeton, is just one of many such examples: totally sure of himself, dismissive of dissenting views.
Yet, when convenient, he could switch to another position with equal conviction. Remember it was he who went to Iraq during Saddam's days to support the latter'ss war against Iran? I doubt Mr. Rumsfeld would feel any inconsistency in his action nor would he doubt his own "core values" as a moral being.
Mr. McMorris, if writing comes easy to you, you should do your part in writing more about the dangers of imperial hubris that has become, alas, as "American as apple pie."
It is also painfully obvious that not enough good people enter into electoral politics these days. All polls show that the US Congress is held in low esteem, below that of President Bush.
If you believe the Law is the cornerstone of a "good" society, and that the Congress is one of the indispensable pillars of that society, you must consider going into electoral politics. As you must know so much of US policies of various sorts (foreign, domestic, economic, political) are shaped by special interests.
I do not condemn "lobby" groups, however, there is a danger that the more powerful ones overwhelm the less powerful. Public policies should not be dictated by only the former.
How that is to be redressed depends on how many "good" politicians get to shape those policies. Lamenting the decline of American can only be the first step towards doing something about it.
I hope you or your friends consider a career in public service. Without good people getting involved, future McMorris's will keep writing depressing articles like yours. Good luck. Sin-ming Shaw CC67
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