“Whether we like it or not,” the president remarked at his recent nuclear proliferation conference, “we remain a dominant military superpower.” His phrasing suggests weariness, almost like the status is all too much. Why fight to hold on to our supremacy, when all it leads to is war, terrorism and recession?
Most people seem to think it’s not something we’ll have to worry about for much longer anyway. The popular sentiment is that the era of American superpower is coming to a close.
Liberals like the president will say “good riddance.” Conservatives will wonder what the world will do without America’s guiding light. Both will be wrong.
I find it hard to believe that our country is in decline. The American economy represents about 30 percent of the world’s wealth, an incredible number considering we’re less than 5 percent of the world population.
No nation in history has ever enjoyed the military superiority of the U.S. We have control of every ocean and airspace. Our soldiers are the best trained and most technologically advanced by miles. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan drain morale, but is our hegemony changed by them?
But most importantly, now and in the future, the iron laws of demographics are on our side. By 2050, America will add 100 million new people.
Some will be born here (at a rate exceeding most other powerful countries, including China) and many will immigrate here by choice. Our population will be young, wealthy and highly educated, eager to shape the world, and to do so profitably.
Meanwhile, Europe and Russia will have lost population, and will have gotten older. China and India will have gotten richer but will struggle to apply that wealth to their massive poverty problems. The Middle East will be much more powerful, but it’s not certain it can make the needed political and societal changes to become a real force to contend with.
American power is increasing, not the other way around.No matter what kind of president or Congress is elected, the American Empire is going to stay involved in world affairs, not by choice, but by geopolitical necessity. In war, technology, culture, entrepreneurship and even morality, the world will continue to follow our lead.
But the pessimism about our future will not abate either. It will always be beneficial to overstate relatively small problems, insisting on immediate action. Americans are greatly excited about short-term issues but have difficulty conceptualizing the long-term. People will always expect the sky to begin falling, when in reality the good times are on their way.
