Death of a Superpower

I was listening to my usual diet of talk radio while chopping peppers and onions for lunch yesterday, and this though occurred to me: Is this how the United States dies as a superpower?

Of course, the coverage was mostly about the bailout, which hopefully will continue to flounder in Congress until they either get it right or the market explodes. And a financial crisis with the world the way it is currently organized may be enough for another power to rise and become dominant.

We've seen, through the centuries, empires rise and fall. The collapse of them was never evident until it was far too late to save them. The Romans, from their days as a republic to their shift to empire were innovators and artisans, advancing technology and culture. They became known for excess, incest, and utter brutality. But their empire lasted through all these, rotting slowly until they were split from within by intrigue, ravaged from without by weaker enemies, and ultimately reduced to ruins. The Soviet Union, bastion of Communism, grew in power, wielding mighty influence and power for decades against the might of our great country. But their desire to control everything, enforce uniformity, and resist change eventually led to their collapse, along with the Red menace.

We are focused on events on the other side of the world, where we have become beholden due to our failure to protect our energy independence while we forget the various problems and shifting alliances of this hemisphere. We play politics with businesses and entangle ourselves in them. We face weaker and weaker enemies who chip away at us slowly. We become less focused on the things that made this country strong and repeat the mistakes of the past. We worry more about the mundane than we do the threats that unite us. And we continue to overextend ourselves politically, financially, and personally.

The current financial crisis is a perfect example. The left blames Bush and Wall Street, the right blames liberal Democrats. In reality, every one of these has some measure of culpability, whether it is complicity and the willingness to throw money at the problem Bush), questionable and possibly illegal actions to maximize a paycheck at the expense of their businesses (Wall Street), or creating the environment where the government becomes further entangled (the liberal Dems). But instead of accepting the blame and eliminating their part in causing the problem, it will become another political circle jerk until all parties are satisfied and enough money is spent to cover all agendas. And the American people just want it "fixed" so they can get back to the next season of American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

This is the tendency we have been seeing increase over the decades since the Great Depression. Now whether this is what will destroy the might of the USA or not, I don't know. But there will be a point at which historians will mark as the beginning of our decline. And they won't mark that line until the great experiment that is our Constitution is a relic in a museum of history alongside other fallen powers in this world.

Now even I (in my damn-near-infinite wisdom) don't have the answer to solve this one. We'll have to see if we have another bailout, or the first step in a true recovery. This might be the event that defines our future.