America In Decline

[Os Cangaceiros]

"It is a common theme" that the United States, which "only a few years ago was hailed to stride the world as a colossus with unparalleled power and unmatched appeal is in decline, ominously facing the prospect of its final decay," Giacomo Chiozza writes in the current Political Science Quarterly.


The theme is indeed widely believed. And with some reason, though a number of qualifications are in order. To start with, the decline has proceeded since the high point of U.S. power after World War II, and the remarkable triumphalism of the post-Gulf War '90s was mostly self-delusion.

Another common theme, at least among those who are not willfully blind, is that American decline is in no small measure self-inflicted. The comic opera in Washington this summer, which disgusts the country and bewilders the world, may have no analogue in the annals of parliamentary democracy.

The spectacle is even coming to frighten the sponsors of the charade. Corporate power is now concerned that the extremists they helped put in office may in fact bring down the edifice on which their own wealth and privilege relies, the powerful nanny state that caters to their interests.

(kind of left-liberal in tone IMHO, but the main point, that the political discourse in the USA is far more to the right than what the majority of the country wants, is worth making.)

Also, was this already posted? It's about 10 days old or so, but I didn't see it...

http://www.chomsky.info/articles/20110805.htm

[danyboy27]

i dont know if they are really frightened, they could withdraw their money at any moment if they wanted to.

if they keep pouring money in this nonsense, its beccause they got something to win from it.

After all, it dosnt really matter to corporation if america goes down the drain, they will still got their money.

[Sensible Socialist]

I'm not sure corporations are worried about who they put into office. It isn't as if the Tea Party wants to nationalize the oil companies. Hell, they'd rather private most of government operations. While some elected officials say things that make even the corporate bosses shake their heads, at the end of the day they're still on the dime of big business and adapt their politics as such.

[Thirsty Crow]

Speeches and writing dealing with imminent decline of the world power, be it the contemporary US or the British Empire at the turn of the century, seem to be occuring in every possible situation, especially in national contexts where there is a sense of imperialist ventue and power resulting from it, raising "our race", "our nation" to a superior rank in relation to other.

And then people become anxious about this status, and all sorts of warnings and pressures on political structures ensue, to keep "us" in charge.
For instance, in late 19th century UK and early 20th century there appeared various forms of writing that stressed racial degeneration of its people as potential causes for "social decay" and the fall of the empire. In reality, these writings were aimed at producing specific effects, institutionalized in apparatuses of intervention in sexuality, of managing and directing it, as well as in specific ways of regulating the relationship between "constituent" nations deemd inferior and the superior nation.

I think it's correct to conclude that these writings and circulation of this kind of opinions intensifies with a parallel intensification of antagonisms both within national borders and outside them (e.g. in Britain, women's sexuality, especially working class women's, was subjected to rigorous scrutiny, testifying to the ways in which the ruling class thought about potential threats to its rule and concrete ways, concrete practices it sought to counter these threats). They are quite significant in that they might reveal much about the potential revolutionary strategy, exposing the "weakest links" in the chain of hegemony, both domestic and international.

[gendoikari]

America is not in decline. Europe and large portions of the world are also facing trouble, what is in decline is capitalism. It's about time my friends, it is truly about time.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Nothing really surprising since capitalism is destined to fall eventually anyway.

[Le Socialiste]

I'm not sure I see America itself in decline so much as its current political structures. The current crises have given way to a renewed push for stricter, more authoritarian governmental frameworks. As the illusions of capitalist-styled democracy and parliamentarism begin to lose legitimacy in the eyes of the world population, the natural step for the ruling classes is that of harsher and more repressive styles of governance. What was once not as evident to the average individual will become more and more obvious, as governments resort to increasingly authoritarian methods in the face of public anger. If the people wake up to realize that their "democracies" are, indeed, a farce, they will naturally voice this disillusionment. If the ruling capitalist classes of the world see the old systems of repression losing the people's support, they'll simply begin doing away with appearances in favor of what they've wanted all along. The decline of American "democracy" - and bourgeois parliamentarism - is what I see here, not necessarily the decline of American power worldwide. The events of these economic crises will eventually, though, draw America (as well as all major powers) into further conflict as everyone scrambles to meet their own domestic and geopolitical interests - instead of cooperation. I think it would be wrong to assume that the interests of the global capitalist class override those of individual nations. Plenty of skeptics shot down the idea of a European war prior to WWI on the basis that Europe's economies were too intertwined to risk conflict. Seeing as how the current economic crisis is sure to worsen in the coming months/years, I think we'll be seeing a return to the geopolitical maneuverings that have historically resulted in regional and world conflicts.

Edit - Just look at how fractured the EU and NATO are: after decades of talks and speeches concerning European "unity" and cooperation, we're seeing old historical interests coming to the fore once again. The EU, despite originating as an economic union for the integration of Europe's economies (and France's way of keeping a fragmented - now unified - Germany in line), has essentially become a German-dominated organization. Germany, being the economic powerhouse of Europe (as has been its historical role in the region), now calls the shots. The fact that this has occurred upsets most members of the EU, especially the weaker economies. When a nation needs a bailout, it goes to Germany. This development has only placed further strain on the EU's member states. The fact that Germany, now unified, is entering into a phase of economic and political resurgence has all major players in the Union on edge - especially France, who sees itself as filling that role.

As for NATO, any sense of an organized "front" has all but disappeared as the newest members (central/eastern Europe) push for renewed focus on the Russian resurgence, something which the alliance's older members don't particularly care about. France is selling Russia naval ships, Germany is selling and investing in technology while the Russians provide them with oil/natural gas, etc. What central/eastern Europe sees as a threat is meeting the cool indifference of the likes of Italy, France, and Germany. This has led to the formation of regional military alliances, such as the Nordic Battle Group (made up of Poland, Sweden, and I believe the Baltic states), and the recent militarization of an economic "alliance" between Poland, Hungary, and several other central European states. This fracturing of the EU and NATO into regional alliances and groupings serves to illustrate the effects of the current economic crises and the return of national geopolitical interests over cooperative ones.

Edit2 - I went a litte OT there. Sorry about that. :blushing:

[Pioneers_Violin]

Well, we are in decline in many ways.

Our standard of living for most people is going down.
Our currency is on the precipice of becoming completely worthless.
Our population is in decline and getting older. (but not as bad as some other countries)
Our "leaders" in business and government are largely a load of base criminals.

Our biggest problem as I see it:
We have a saying: "Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians".
This is where our culture is at.

We have a relative lack of people willing to work. I don't mean people willing to "work" in an office doing nothing especially productive for money, either. We've got lots of those.

I mean not enough people are willing to perform manual tasks like making stuff or even just fixing stuff. That's what I do... fix stuff.

We are rapidly becoming a soft, lazy and stupid people. I see this more as time goes on.
This is probably how we ended up with our current government... not enough people wanted to get involved with dirty old politics and the special interests took over.

Lots of Americans have never even shoveled snow, mown lawns or worked in their garden.... they hire "illegals" to do these things who DO know the value of work.
Americans think of "illegals" as being stupid and subservient.
Hah! I know several and a lot of these guys are smart and all are pretty tough. Some of them have already been through revolutions.
A lot of them will be around when revolution comes here.

There are still an awful lot of smart, hardworking Americans. Not everyone is as pathetic as the people I described above.
I find the rise of this soft, spoiled and stupid class disturbing. Such people were virtually unheard of just a few decades ago..