Sep 23, 2017
A New American Century: Fourth of July Reflections
- Part One: An Ode to the Common Man
1.1. 1776 or The Amerexit Year One
Common sense people follow their common good. When common good is to be found in a certain political construction, they adhere to that construction naturally. If that political construction serves no longer their short, medium, and long-time needs, common sense people will find a better way.
The 1776 generation was one of visionary people. And because they wanted to take their country back, they started what we know today as being the American Revolution. For this reason, they were, at the time, stigmatized, despised, threatened, and outcast, but they ultimately prevailed.
Try to imagine for a moment the Amerexit some 240 years ago using the lenses of an opponent! You do not have to try too hard, since the event really happened, but it was called instead The 1776 American Revolution.
The scared voices of today, of an ancient Greek choir type, predicting the doomsday after Brexit, would not have sounded so well in 1776, now would they? People who vociferate nowadays are those who usually cannot see the forest for the trees.
1.2. 2016 or The Amerexit Year Two Hundred and Forty and The Brexit Year One
Who would have ever thought that the former British masters — from whom the Americans have won their independence some 240 years ago — had been able to fight for — and win — their Second Independence from the Old Europe, about 240 years later?
To all ye faithful ancient Greek choir members and Brexit gravediggers, mourners and howlers, jinxes and apocalyptic soothsayers, I come to thee and say this: make a little mental exercise and teleport thy pessimistic predictions to the year of grace One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Six. Then, replace the word “Brexiters” with “rebel colonists.” Then, start asking yourselves again: “Had I known this before, would I have preached it differently?”
2016 bears a special importance, for both the American and British people. The first ones celebrate their first Independence (Amerexit), of over 240 years ago. The latter ones have just taken their country back, and celebrate their second Independence (Brexit) from the very year of 2016.
Let us trust the common sense of the simple man, and not the one of the perpetual seekers for the good of others. Let us see clearly the true colors, and not get distracted by the zillions of nuances.
2. Part Two: The Second Great American Century
2.1 The First American Century
Over seventy five years ago, in 1941, the United States was on the point of entering the World War II, and was trying to redefine its role — and foreign policy — in the world.
On January 6, 1941, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt articulated, in his State of the Union address, a Four Freedoms speech (religion, speech, press and assembly) that prepared the country to switch the course from its traditional isolationist policies to a new interventionist approach.
This paved the way for an August 14, 1941 American-British Atlantic Charter, issued by the leaders of the U.S. and the U.K. at that time (Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill).
The Charter stated the two allies’ goals of the war and for the post-war world. The Atlantic Charter was itself the platform for the post-war Allies’ construction of the United Nations, established on October 24, 1945, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on December 10, 1948, as a common standard for its member states.
Soon after Roosevelt’s speech, on February 17, 1941, Henry Luce, the American magazine magnate, pushed things even further in his Life magazine editorial about “The American Century.”
He outlined the American world hegemony for the rest of the 20th century and beyond. His vision — internationalist in essence, but not of a New Deal type — was based on four pillars, able to secure the Unites States’ world influence, namely: political (constitutional federation), economic (strong capitalist state), military (large, strong and modern combat force, nuclear arsenal, powerful intelligence network), and cultural (arts — performing and visual, and fashion).
The concept has not been developed as a territorial, but rather temporal one. Therefore, it was not exposed as an embodiment for an American empire, but related to an endurance of the American democratic principles throughout the century. The concept was based on a vision of freedom under law, since freedom (which creates limitless possibilities) predicates the “American Dream” as the path toward an abundant and prosperous life.
However, in terms of partnership with the U.K., “the American Century” vision departed from the Atlantic Charter position, in the sense that the U.S. should assume “the senior partner” role, since this “has been true for a long time” and that the U.K., as “an island people of less than 50 millions cannot expect to be the senior partner.”
2.2. The Second American Century
The vision and principles for an American Century have been sustained, in what is known as Pax Americana, since the middle of the 20th century to date, by the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States (due to the aforementioned political, economic, military, and cultural factors).
These principles have remained valid today. With the advent of the new millennium, America copes with the same challenges, but in a new format: political (Russia’s state authoritarianism and expansionism), economic (China’s growth and, more recently, the Brexit), military (Islamic terrorism), and cultural (multicultural policies).
At the end of his editorial, Henry Luce said: “It is in this spirit that all of us are called, each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of this vision, to create the first great American Century.”
The time has come for us to embark ourselves on a new journey, of turning this 21st century into a new — the Second — great American Century.
NOTE — Versions of the article were published in:
CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW! (Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas) [5,500+ views; 1 like]
and
INTELLECTUAL CONSERVATIVE (Phoenix, Arizona) [300+ comments; 5 comments]
and
MARIANAS VARIETY (Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands) [6 comments]
and
MEDIUM (San Francisco, California) [100+ views; 3 comments;100+ likes]
and referenced in:
PRISON INMATE LOCATOR
TOTAL PUBLICATIONS = 5
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