World Power

A discussion. Again, from Facebook. Infernal device.

That's the thing. As a soft power, Canada NEVER demands anything without the support of the international community, not just the US. Hell, our country IS the international community. As a result, if we are looking to achieve something, it is in the interest of a greater portion of the global population. We all know what happened when John Kerry mentioned a "global test" during a debate with Bush. He was marginalized, then not elected. Canada, however, places great faith in the power of the many. This is a position much of the world wishes that the SUPERpower would adopt. Unilateralism, I suspect, is not long for this Earth.

"Right, but America won't place any faith in the power of the many, until they're no longer the world superpower and they don't need to. For now, they can just go it alone even if no one agrees." (A. Nesmith-Beck; "1984 And Other Dystopian Fiction," Facebook Discussion Group; 13-14 May 2007).

And where/what has that gotten America? Why can America not place any faith in the many? It is WORLD power we're talking about after all...

"That's gotten America to be hated by pretty much every other country in the world, but they are so powerful that it doesn't matter what other countries think. Most Americans believe that their country is and always will be the WORLD power that we're talking about. They don't think the balance of power will ever change, or move to the other side of the scale. America will always be strong, proud, and free to do whatever it wants to the rest of the world, with no consequence." (ibid.)

Didn't exactly work out for Germany in 1939 did it? If other countries can countermand the Ultimate Equalizer...

Most Americans, according to some surveys, believe that the world will end in "the Rapture" within their lifetimes and that "global warming" (aka environmental destruction) is not a pressing issue. Most Americans believe that WWII started 7 December 1941. Most Americans believe that Canadians live in igloos and ride polar bears. Basically, the stuff that most Americans believe is wrong.

The question I have is can anyone take away the keys from a nation that is in a drunken stupor AND at the helm of the world? There will be consequences if no one does...

"... was Germany really as powerful then as America is now?... to answer your question, my opinion is that no country will take the keys from America, they will eventually become so drunk that they lose them, without any pressure from the outside world. But will it be soon enough to avoid those consequences? Only time can tell." (ibid.)

Germany certainly thought it was powerful enough to conquer Europe and Russia (aka the Old World). Their mighty industrial power, less than half a century after the start of the Industrial Revolution, had caught and surpassed most of Europe. Therefore, they believed that they could conquer it. America's industries, once engaged at warfare and under the Roosevelt's New Deal, caught and surpassed Germany. Essentially, America used Germany's corporate (i.e. Fascist) industrial model, amplified it, and successfully outproduced armaments. The fever pitch of military industry remains unabated. Of course, after the Trinity test and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the arms race shifted and has never been the same. Forget Germany, no one has ever had that kind of power. And, due to the "schoolyard bully" force that America has applied to the world since 1945, no one ever will.

Do you not believe that the proof is in the pudding now that the Administration now is completely, excuse the pun, bombed?

Look at the evidence:
:: The Attorney-General is called before Congress, twice, in a scandal that, allegedly, fired State Attorneys for political ends.
:: There are indictments against Congressmen, a conviction of the aide to the Vice-President, and serious questions about the aide to the President.
:: Every year the Administration has been in power, the US has been more at odds with international consensus, more at odds with its own population, and diving into national debt.
:: Pressure from the outside world and within America has been fast and furious, but totally ignored by the Administration. Former Generals deploring the war, 10 million people worldwide protesting it before the first bomb was dropped, protests of US and G8-led globalization efforts, protests of privatization efforts led by US corporations like the IMF and World Bank, and so on..

America IS drunk with power. Not the American people, because they have no real power, but the power elite who have all the power. Do they give two ishts about what the consequences are? Obviously not. Are the consequences evident? Yes. Are the keys being given up or are the methods changing? No.