30 July 2008
Prognostication, doubt, and hope
Thinking about American preeminence (or, rather, our dwindling preeminence), and what global changes are going to mean to us in the 20 years. Mostly, I worry about the changes my sons will have to live through, and how they'll have to deal with the consequences of the actions of the preceding two generations.
Several things brought the US into the position it's held for the last 60 years. Our vast resources, capitalistic economy, and imperialist attitudes of the 20th century collided with world events and brought us into the global dominance of the cold war and post cold war era. But now other cultures, prominently China, Russia, and the EU, are rising up to embrace those same capitalistic and imperialist qualities, though with a 21st century bent, at the same time that we've begun to reject them.
Many of my generation are isolationists and pacifists, or at least one or the other. We embrace the ideal notions of the 60s generations and hoped that we could make them come about, now that we're generation coming of age and they are the ones in power or trying to make a legacy before they leave power. But these ideals are the opposite of those that made America what it is and gave us the privileges we enjoy.
How much are we willing to pay (or make our sons and daughters pay) in order to make our nation what we think it should be. It is becoming apparent to me that our ideals will me a decrease in our power, at least in the short run, and consequences will come of that.
I once embraced pragmatism, as it was described to me by government teachers in Jr High and High School, because it seemed logical to meet problems with logical tools of the moment, rather than difficult and unwieldy ideals that did not produce immediate results. But In the last decade, I changed to uphold idealism - I believe that we must look to our ideals to guide us, or else we never get out of the rust out pragmatic solutions continue to dig for us.
Maybe there's a middle ground. Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and realize the consequences. Or maybe I need another dose of hope that our ideals, while they may cause some immediate setbacks, will leave our nation and our children's world a better place.
Several things brought the US into the position it's held for the last 60 years. Our vast resources, capitalistic economy, and imperialist attitudes of the 20th century collided with world events and brought us into the global dominance of the cold war and post cold war era. But now other cultures, prominently China, Russia, and the EU, are rising up to embrace those same capitalistic and imperialist qualities, though with a 21st century bent, at the same time that we've begun to reject them.
Many of my generation are isolationists and pacifists, or at least one or the other. We embrace the ideal notions of the 60s generations and hoped that we could make them come about, now that we're generation coming of age and they are the ones in power or trying to make a legacy before they leave power. But these ideals are the opposite of those that made America what it is and gave us the privileges we enjoy.
How much are we willing to pay (or make our sons and daughters pay) in order to make our nation what we think it should be. It is becoming apparent to me that our ideals will me a decrease in our power, at least in the short run, and consequences will come of that.
I once embraced pragmatism, as it was described to me by government teachers in Jr High and High School, because it seemed logical to meet problems with logical tools of the moment, rather than difficult and unwieldy ideals that did not produce immediate results. But In the last decade, I changed to uphold idealism - I believe that we must look to our ideals to guide us, or else we never get out of the rust out pragmatic solutions continue to dig for us.
Maybe there's a middle ground. Or maybe I just need to bite the bullet and realize the consequences. Or maybe I need another dose of hope that our ideals, while they may cause some immediate setbacks, will leave our nation and our children's world a better place.
