America the historical

For my American friends, I feel the need to disabuse you of any notion that the US is favored, special, or otherwise worthy.  Yes, for many years it was the benchmark Republic, but it was never the ideal it held itself out to be -- just look at the three-fifths clause in the Constitution.  However, those freedoms have been steadily eroded by special interests and 'gunboat diplomacy,' and today US laws are often cited by repressive governments to justify their own policies!  America has consistently failed to lead the way on important issues such as women's rights, torture, nuclear policy, and cluster bombs, and instead have violated state sovereignty around the world, enforcing a 'might makes right' policy that not only alienates everyone, but creates the extremism the US is trying to prevent!  Afghanistan, as a 10-year-war with no end in sight, sets a new low in a dismal foreign policy record, and a majority of Americans believe the Bible is literally true.

Yes, for many years the "American dream" symbolized the hopes and aspirations for many, but that economy was based on a set of natural resources that were largely untouched until the 18th century, just as industrialization was allowing for mass production.  Those natural resources have largely been exploited, and for the past 40 years or so the "American dream" has been based on the federal deficit, which has gone from $381 billion in 1970 to over $14 trillion today.

Yes, America took pre-eminence in the world after World War II, but that was because it entered the war nearly 3 years after it started, and saw no action on home soil.  (Hawaii didn't join the union until nearly 20 years later, and in any case saw almost no civilian damage.)  The US was spared the devastation that Europe, Russia, and Japan sustained, and a lot of people died due to US indifference.

America has thrived on a combination of luck and timing, not from any special birthright or divine protection.  The one thing it did have in its favor was cooperation, low taxes, and a laissez faire government content to let industry respond to the needs of people.  Compared to the rest of the world, it still has these, but in significantly smaller portions than the founding fathers intended, and the rest of the world is catching up.  The EU has turned 27 warring countries into a global marketplace about half the size of the US.  As the formerly Eastern Bloc countries join, it may soon rival the US in size and population.  With a single currency, freedom of movement, and no tariffs, the only thing keeping America in the lead are high taxes (the UK has a 40% top income tax and a 20% sales tax) and language barriers.

China is the size of the US, and between 1976 to 2007 it went from being the 27th largest economy to the 2nd.  Unfortunately, its government has used rather unfair practices to grow, a parasitic practice that obviously won't work once they surpass the US, which is widely expected to occur in the next 20 years.  But with a larger population, lower unemployment, lower debt, lower inflation, and significant foreign reserves, China can not only surpass the US, it can crush it.  (If you've never wondered where the government borrowed 14 trillion dollars from, it is from China.)

India is only one-third the size of the US, but has three times the population, and each year it produces about twice as many engineering and computing experts as the United States.  If we are truly in the 'knowledge economy,' then by any standard India is winning.  If they weren't crippled by overpopulation, India would undoubtedly be challening US supremacy already.  Fortunately, it's just taking all of the jobs.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but while you're huddled under your insular blanket, blithely ignorant of the world around you, be aware that very soon the walls are going to come crashing down around you.

Have a nice day.