by Cactus Jack » Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:51 pm
I can't add anything to what K3nt wrote. Those would be some good parameters.
I too am fairly sure our time really has passed. I'm even more certain that if we have passed the peak of our power, we'll never get it back. I think there are a lot of reasons. Maybe the biggest is we're no longer enough of a homogenous society. I know of no country or culture that has come closer to the famous "melting pot" as the U.S. did, but I think this is more of a myth than reality. The Industrial Revolution began to really roll in England, but hit it's peak here in the U.S., when the country was mostly of European extraction. Spain, Portugal, France and Germany have all had great success in the past, and were homogenous. Japan is one of the most homogenous societies on Earth, and always have been. We are no longer a post-European country. Caucasians represent barely over half the population.
Now, before anyone starts screaming racism, I point this out as showing we have so many different cultures that we can have no national consensus. Each culture wants what's best for it, right or wrong. It's right for them, if not wrong for the country as a whole. As this has been happening for several decades, those who were responsible for the the tremendous success of the U.S. fear the loss of their power, not just in the country, but in the world.
Part of this shows up in the increasingly strong religious beliefs. Second it shows up in our need to use our military power. Think of it as like the husband who resorts to hitting his wife because he can control her no other way. Out of frustration and impotence--psychologically, not sexually--he lashes out.
The gentleman I discussed all this with suggested we may have to go to war to protect our supply of oil. I don't think he meant what we've already done. Resources have always been the cause of wars. Japan attacked the U.S. when we embargoed their oil. The Germans invaded Russia for the oil reserves in the Caucuses. Italy didn't offer enough resources, so the Romans went out and took what they wanted or thought they needed. Is there anyone so reasonable they would not be willing to fight for a tank of gas? I remember fist fights in gas lines in the 70s, so don't think this couldn't happen.
I can't remember when it was, but it was fifteen years or more that we became more a consumer than a producer. We import more than we export. Part of that is the tremendous economy and great wealth and standard of living we enjoyed over all others, but much of it is our resources have been exceeded by our ability to produce more. It's cheaper to buy than to make. If it cost 4.00 to run a car for a mile on hydrogen and gas is 2, there's no reason to put out the cost for a water-driven car. If gas goes to 5? Ah, then...
I really believe the man was right. The Chinese will eclipse us, sooner than we think. I guess we can ask the Spanish, the French and the English how to handle it. I know this: It's not going to be an easy transition. Evolution we can handle. Drastic change we don't like. We hate it. We'll fight it. And we'll lose.
学会讲中文。 (Learn to speak Chinese.)
CJ
"Are the players better as the stakes go up? It's not an exam; it's a buyin." Barry Tanenbaum