“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it” – George Santayana, philosopher
As the nation anxiously approaches the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, this is a useful time to reflect on the role of the U.S. in the today’s world.
It is trite to say it but I’ll go ahead and do so anyway; America is no longer the preeminent economic and political power it once was. Over the past decade, the country has lost ground to many industrialized and developing countries around the world. Across several standard measurements of national success, including affordability of health care, primary education, per capita income, standard quality of life and scientific innovation, the U.S. is no longer the dominant force and de facto leader in the world.
For the past thirty or so years, it has been in the vested interest of establishment politicians to perpetuate the myth that the position of America as the world’s leader was secure. But as the recent election showed us, this is no longer the case. Today’s reality is simply too stark and too obvious to continue clinging to the fabricated idea that America still dominates in the global marketplace of ideas and commerce. Just look at the intensification of our corporate welfare system. More and more, America’s corporations find themselves playing catch up to their foreign competitors and this has even caused America’s elitist class to realize that something has radically changed.
America is on the wrong track and has been rolling down the wrong track for a long, long time. Obama – more than any other candidate last year – was able to speak to the pervasive fear and hopelessness of middle America and dare people to dream of a different future. In less than three weeks, Obama and his team of advisers take their promise of change to Washington DC but it is hard to see how the former Senator from Illinois can fulfill such grandiose expectations. Most Americans want to believe that Obama can succeed in ushering in a new paradigm of governance to cure our ailing democracy. Can the soon-to-be president restore the country’s economic standing in the world? Can he restore America as the world’s voice of freedom and liberty? And can he inspire a new generation of leaders? Hope is high but the disappointment may run deep.
The British historian Edward Gibbon, in his classic The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, theorized that the fall of the Roman empire (which took place around 500 A.D.) can be traced to four main causes: internal religious and class dissension, rise of slavery and rampant corruption, over-emphasis on Christianity to the neglect of civil duty and Barbarian invasions. A comparison between the themes espoused by Gibbon in his 18th century work and the present state of our nation is not a huge stretch. If America is to the modern age what the Roman Empire was to the third and fourth centuries, then President George Bush may be the Theodosius of the modern era. Theodosius was the Roman emperor who made Christianity the Empire’s official religion and was the last Emperor to rule over a united empire. Years from now, historians may look at the Bush years as the official decline of American hegemony just as historians like Gibbon have done for the the Roman Empire under the reign of Theodosius. After all, any country that has 5% of the world’s population and spends 50% of total global military expenditure (as is the case with the U.S.), it is clear that it has lost its power of persuasion and moral standing in the world.
Obama shoulders a tremendous burden, an unfair burden. He is harboring the hopes and desires of a generation like John F. Kennedy did five decades ago. During his presidency, JFK acquired the comparison to King Arthur and for this reason his administration became known as Camelot. It may also be fitting to compare Kennedy to another historical heavyweight – Julius Caesar – for two reasons. First, both men were political giants assasinated for political reasons. Secondly, if Gibbon was right to say that the fall of the Roman Empire began with the assassination of Julius Caesar, then the decline of the modern American empire may have likewise began on that fateful day in Dallas.
Does history make the man or does man make history? Obama’s legacy may shed some light on this age-old question.
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