Trump was right about one thing, we are a nation in decline, but it’s not for the reasons he’s claiming.
this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
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Democracies grant immense power to the electorate. Including the power of suicide. Democratic systems are inherently capable of ending themselves because ultimately their survival depends on enough people believing in the system and holding the integrity of the system to be more important than any particular democratic outcome. That is lost in the US. Most voters don't care.
That truth alone makes a decent argument for US being in decline. It will take a long time , but it's beginning.
The US isn't a democracy though, it is a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, where every election we get to select which group of oppressors will wield state power against us until the next one.
Also decline is caused by anticolonial resistance and the logic of capitalism breaking down. I would suggest reading Lenin's "imperialism" and Fanon's "wretched of the earth"
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Corrupt democracies should be suicided. Electoral college, first past the post, gerrymandering, partisant suprene court, gridlocked house and senate, bankers running money, wallstreet in charge of the commons, and that's just for starters
It is difficult to get Drezner to understand that American exceptionalism is already dead when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
Why does Will E Coyote look so much like a Swastika here
End? It was always a myth?
Right? But American mainstream media would not admit that.
The End of American Exceptionalism
But not the end of them claiming it regardless of the reality.
Then again, their claims of being the bestest ever at everything have been false for a very long time already.
"I live in the best country on the planet!"
"Have you ever been to another country?"
"Well, no. But why would I do that when I'm already in the best country!"
This doesn't apply to just the US...
Traveling does wonders to people. Shame not a lot of people can afford it and even those who can not all travel.
You have a point. After I wrote it I thought of 2 things. Firstly, even those that are lucky enough to travel will never travel everywhere. So, how can they claim the best without having seen all possibilities? Secondly, there are ways to learn and /or experience things without being physically present, like read about it in a book, or watch a documentary. That counts for something.
Now I think about it, I could have changed it to:
"I live in the best country on the planet!”
"Really? How do you know? How do you measure that? What evidence do you have to back that up?"
But, it would probably go all downhill from there, as the original one inevitably would....😆
They aren’t exceptional. They’re just like Russia.
I'd argue we're a lot more like the British empire in their glory days- exporting authoritarianism, subjugation, and hate globally, for as long as it serves our material benefit.
We learned from the best 🤷♂️
We are not just like Russia.
We aren't exceptional though, you got that right. America hasn't been exceptional in decades.
Oh, it has… just not in the ways anyone would desire to be considered exceptional.
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Maybe even the start of Americans engaging with reality, I'm not holding my breath though.
Even though we will admittedly never engage with reality, you may still consider holding your breath around us to be prudent. We smell awful from all the obesity.
There is a chance that Trump will inadvertently weaken the US long term, but nothing is certain so until it happens I am not getting my hopes up. The article though is neocon propaganda, they don't even mention the genocide in Gaza or pogroms in the West Bank.
There is a chance that Trump will inadvertently weaken the US long term
He already did that the first time.
This time he'll double (or triple) down on that.
I view FA as an arena for American political elite to build legitimacy for their ideas.
That, combined with an expected surge of corrupt foreign policy practices, will leave the United States looking like a garden-variety great power.
I'm surprised to hear such strong language out of FA. I normally expect boring policy-style language.
He believes that the U.S.-created liberal international order has, over time, stacked the deck against the United States.
I've perceived that things have never been better for American international order than under Trump/Biden.
he will likely use Schedule F—a measure to reclassify civil service positions as political slots—to force them out.
Interesting precedence if so. Having career civil servants keeps things from changing too fast, and turning them political could enable instability. I'm curious how this interacts with the Hatch act.
The first is the inevitable corruption that will compromise U.S. policies.
I'm surprised at the emphasis on "corruption" language, especially in FA. This type of language gets people labeled "troublemaker" as Chomsky might say.
I've perceived that things have never been better for American international order than under Trump/Biden.
The last few cycles have been a weird time for NATO, as the escalating Russian aggression revitalised the alliance, but the unreliability of Trump vastly diminished the status of the US. Europe is now actively trying to get out of the military subordinate role.
Exactly what pootin wants