The death of the superpower?

[buffalo_bill]

RY my last hope is that you admit being under the permanent influence of intoxicating spirits . The idea that you represent the conservative part of your country is an insult even to a reborn Midwest Republican in Jesus .

[Old Hippie]

Jesus was indeed a white republican Middle American. And despite the Latino name, he spoke English!

[rogueyam]

RY my last hope is that you admit being under the permanent influence of intoxicating spirits . The idea that you represent the conservative part of your country is an insult even to a reborn Midwest Republican in Jesus .

 

Like I said, all the rest is bullshit.

[Faustian]

Many of us want to see a strong America' date=' leading the world, based upon a good foreign policy and intelligent leadership, spreading genuine democracy and leading by example. None of this has happened lately. That's why is it in the shit. The current financial nightmare is yet further proof of the lunatics running the asylum. [/quote']

 

You want to see socialistic world government. If America abets that goal then you will support this. Insofar as America continues to stay true to her founding then you will hate her. All the rest is bullshit.

 

Wrong idiot boy.

 

And to say that my opinions are bullshit...on what grounds? Because I wrote them? You are a special kind of idiot. An irretrievably, irredeemable kind.

 

You claim to know my mind, but in fact know nothing....again as evidenced by your above total bullshit.

 

I'd be highly embarrassed by such a post, if I were you (and thank god I'm not!).

 

[rogueyam]

You are worse than usual lately. Did you just get dumped?

[Bangkoktraveler]

You are worse than usual lately. Did you just get dumped?

 

Do you mean, did he take a dump?

 

I would say "YES".

 

And to answer your next question, "YES, it was a big dump!"

 

[Faustian]

You are worse than usual lately. Did you just get dumped?

 

No. It always amuses me how you like to dish it out, but really struggle when it's given back....and even better, you fail to understand the irony.

 

You're still avoiding questions.

 

[Al]

food for thought

[Faustian]

Thanks for the link. Nice article. I just bet RY disagrees with it....

[kamui]

Newsweek has an very interesting analysis of the current situation. For those who don't know the author, he is not a NYT liberal, but former a neocon who was leading intellectual of the movement.

 

Here are some snippets:

 

The Fall of America, Inc.

Along with some of Wall Street's most storied firms, a certain vision of capitalism has collapsed. How we restore faith in our brand.

By Francis Fukuyama

 

...

Ideas are one of our most important exports, and two fundamentally American ideas have dominated global thinking since the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was elected president. The first was a certain vision of capitalismâ??one that argued low taxes, light regulation and a pared-back government would be the engine for economic growth. Reaganism reversed a century-long trend toward ever-larger government. Deregulation became the order of the day not just in the United States but around the world.

 

The second big idea was America as a promoter of liberal democracy around the world, which was seen as the best path to a more prosperous and open international order. America's power and influence rested not just on our tanks and dollars, but on the fact that most people found the American form of self-government attractive and wanted to reshape their societies along the same linesâ??what political scientist Joseph Nye has labeled our "soft power."

 

It's hard to fathom just how badly these signature features of the American brand have been discredited.

...

Like all transformative movements, the Reagan revolution lost its way because for many followers it became an unimpeachable ideology, not a pragmatic response to the excesses of the welfare state. [color:blue]Two concepts were sacrosanct:[/color] [color:blue]first, that tax cuts would be self-financing, and second, that financial markets could be self-regulating.[/color]

 

...a particular [color:blue]aspect of America that makes our country very different from Europe[/color]. There, less-educated, working-class citizens vote reliably for socialist, communist and other left-learning parties, based on their economic interests. In the United States, they can swing either left or right. They were part of Roosevelt's grand Democratic coalition during the New Deal, a coalition that held through Lyndon Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s. But they started voting Republican during the Nixon and Reagan years, swung to Clinton in the 1990s, and returned to the Republican fold under George W. Bush. When they vote Republican, it's because cultural issues like religion, patriotism, family values and gun ownership trump economic ones.

 

[color:blue]This group of voters will decide November's election[/color], not least because of their concentration in a handful of swing states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.

...

[color:blue]The American model has also been seriously tarnished by the Bush administration's use of torture[/color]. After 9/11 Americans proved distressingly ready to give up constitutional protections for the sake of security. Guantánamo Bay and the hooded prisoner at Abu Ghraib have since replaced the Statue of Liberty as symbols of America in the eyes of many non-Americans.

...

[color:blue]Globally the United States will not enjoy the hegemonic position[/color] it has occupied until now, something underscored by Russia's Aug. 7 invasion of Georgia. America's ability to shape the global economy through trade pacts and the IMF and World Bank will be diminished, as will our financial resources. [color:blue]And in many parts of the world, American ideas, advice and even aid will be less welcome[/color] than they are now.

...

[color:blue]Still, another comeback rests on our ability to make some fundamental changes[/color]. First, [color:blue]we must break out of the Reagan-era straitjacket concerning taxes and regulation[/color]. Tax cuts feel good but do not necessarily stimulate growth or pay for themselves; given our long-term fiscal situation Americans are going to have to be told honestly that they will have to pay their own way in the future. Deregulation, or the failure of regulators to keep up with fast-moving markets, can become unbelievably costly, as we have seen. [color:blue]The entire American public sectorâ??underfunded, deprofessionalized and demoralized[/color]â??needs to be rebuilt and be given a new sense of pride. There are certain jobs that only the government can fulfill.

 

Newsweek

 

I am surprised that I ever would agree to a (former) neocon.

 

But of course this essay isn't of any value for our Palinistas, since Fukuyama never used neither terms like "hockey-mon" or "Joe-six-pack" nor "betcha" once. Also he is in an elitist working at an university.