The End Of The American Dream?

Photo by zaphodsotherhead

I was talking to someone the other week about American politics, and I said that I felt like we were nearing the end of US political dominance of the world.

I deliberately made a distinction from cultural dominance - our shared language and all of Hollywood's money means that our cinemas and TVs will always be filled with US products, but I can feel a shift in the world's politics.

At what point did it start? You could argue that the end of the Soviet Union also signalled the end of America as a political force. The US increasingly retreated from world politics (barring a little sojourn into Kosovo) throughout the 90s. When 9/11 happened, the world expressed its shock and horror but precious few countries were willing to commit troops to a fight in Afghanistan. Even fewer wanted to know about Iraq.

America discovered that without the threat of the Soviet Union hanging over other countries, the Western world felt that they owed America nothing. The US was no longer the protector. Worse, with increasing globalisation, it was starting to be seen as the bully and aggressor.

Add to this the political views on climate change. It's now a forbidden subject in US politics. If you want to get elected, you either can't mention it or you campaign denying the science. The rest of the world is looking on aghast, and telling the US to "get out of the way".

As they are overtaken in the pollution stakes by China, the US are being seen as an irritating irrelevance at climate talks. The smaller nations, particularly in Africa, owe more to China and India than they do to the US.

And it's not just politics. Big business and innovation is increasingly heading East. The US are stuck with the mentality that they have to bow to whatever Big Business says, the same Big Business that builds huge cars that no one can afford to run and blasts the tops off of mountains because it's easier than tunnelling.

Perhaps it's not surprising that US politics is failing when the politicians are all in the pocket of the same Big Business.

Here's a video of Dr Steven Chu, the US Energy Secretary, saying much the same thing about

America's declining competitive edge in critical new technologies, including those that will power the industrial revolution of the new century - energy efficiency, and renewable, low carbon energy production.