Imagine having to put a bank of supercomputers to work analyzing all of the electronic, internet, and telephone message traffic in the entire world in order to intercept communications in a world full of enemies and potential enemies. Apparently, this is the sort of nation the U.S. has become, or intends to become.
As the planet’s natural resources of petroleum, precious minerals and metals, water, and food become more and more scarce and objects of international competition, one solution would be to peacefully, cooperatively and collaboratively work with people of all nations to obtain and attain the resources needed for survival by all with fairness and altruism. Unfortunately, that is not and has never been the approach of the United States of America.
America’s motto is U.S. (US) First. We come first. We take what we want. We get the most of the best and the rest of the world can settle for crumbs. We have the biggest military budget in the world, outspending the rest of the world combined, for a reason. We see it, we want it, and we get it.
Up till now, enemies were just an inconvenience for the U.S. because we were successfully able to divide and conquer, bribe or threaten and intimidate the rest of the world.
Now, the dynamic is changing. How would have thought ten years ago that Venezuela, of all nations, would become a catalyst for hemispheric independence from American hegemony? Who would have seen the Chinese signing natural gas contracts with Canada, and Bolivia nationalizing its resources?
America is really good at making enemies. America is committed to tracking its enemies and putting its technology and its military to work. But can America defeat the rest of the world, or will the U.S. Empire find itself maxed out and eventually bled to death. Osama bin Laden seems to believe that America will lose a war of attrition in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
The future for the new generation of American citizens born in the new millenium is shaky and getting shakier by the day, it seems.
An empire can only survive for a finite period of time, and the cycles of history turn. Yin becomes yang and weak become strong. The young grow old and the powerful become humiliated.
What have we become here in the good old U.S.A.? We are a nation at the apex of power and headed for decline, with ourselves to blame. There are many goodhearted Americans who wanted to use U.S. power for good, but were duped by their government. The enemies we have created will not be obliged to show compassion to us when we showed so little to the people of Nicaragua, Sudan, Cambodia, North Korea, Chile, and even the city of Compton or East Palo Alto.
Hard times, they are a comin’, and the evidence will show up soon enough on those supercomputers, but supercomputers will not be able to correct the mess we have caused.
