Pax Americana

What would it take for the United States to find itself in a new Pax Americana?  I am glad you didn’t ask, because I am going to offer my ignorant opinion on the matter anyway.

I believe there are six key factors to establishing a modern Pax Americana.

• Responsible Stewardship
• Reinvestment in Ourselves
• Addressing Income Inequality
• Brain Draining The World
• West vs The Rest – A Clear Ideological Divide
• Expansion to Space

Responsible Stewardship

Simply put, the United States requires responsible leadership for a period of time greater than eight years to establish a modern Pax Americana.  Oscillating between being a true global leader and an irresponsible mess neither endears us to the world nor provides an opening to reestablish true supremacy for generations to come.

The United States cannot hope to succeed at the following points under a kakistocracy, such as we suffer at present, or global warmongering, as we endured during the George W. Bush years.

I am cautiously optimistic that a Biden win and administration, followed by two terms of a Harris administration, would provide the decade plus necessary for the United States to truly right itself globally.

Reinvestment in Ourselves

Our infrastructure is falling apart.  Our students are falling behind.  We are enduring racial strife, perhaps the worst we have seen since the Civil Rights movement.  Our leadership is weak. 

We must reinvest in ourselves.

Much is made by self-help gurus and others about the necessity of loving yourself before you can love others.  In general, this elicits an eyeroll from me.  This case, however, I concur. 

Without infrastructure, we cannot engage in proper commerce.

Without education, we fail future generations, and the foundation of our nation.

Without equal opportunity – not equal results – we cannot be the best possible version of ourselves.

Addressing Income Inequality

Income inequality is getting a lot worse.  If this continues to grow then it risks damaging our ability to enact the following points, and compounds domestic problems.

Look at the economy as a human body, and blood as money, the lifeforce of the economy.  When income inequality is in a healthy spot then money is flowing throughout the economy.  As income inequality grows, cash pools, or clots, in one income bracket.

Blood clots can be fatal.

We cannot be a healthy nation with income inequality to this degree, though capitalism by its very nature is going to lead to a certain degree of a divide.

Brain Drain The World

For a modern Pax Americana then we must double down on one of our greatest strengths – brain draining the world.

If the greatest minds are not just enabled, but encouraged, to move to a land where they will be rewarded and free to pursue their passions then we, as a nation, will benefit.

Some of the greatest Americans have come from foreign lands to their destiny.  Some of America’s greatest successes are results of minds born abroad.

Albert Einstein.

Werner von Braun.  Regardless of politics or history, Werner was America’s space program – and why we are the only nation to date to put a man on the moon.

Steve Chen & Jawed Karim – creators of YouTube.

Madeleine Albright.

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Sofia Vergara, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron…because reasons.

Andrew Carnegie.

Joseph Pulitzer.

Just a short list of some of the great minds to grace our lands and claim the title of ‘American’.

West vs The Rest – A Clear Ideological Divide

China is a rising power.  They represent an authoritarian, dystopian future with little hope. 

That is not up for debate – that is a reality.

Social credit scores.  Like something out of Black Mirror.

Reeducation camps in Xinjiang for Uighur Muslims.

Aggressive military expansion.

The United States must reestablish itself as a beacon of hope for the world.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

We may be one nation, but we will need the world’s backing to defeat this ideological darkness with the beacon of hope that we once were and can be again.

Expansion to Space

No, this isn’t a joke.

The United States must endeavor to reach once more for the stars.  They are our future, and we cannot be a leader without seeking to conquer them first, just as we once did.

Scientific advancement.  Military preeminence.  Sating humanity’s need to explore.  Space offers so much, including part of the key to a Pax Americana.

I believe these six points would lead to not just a Pax Americana, but a better, stronger tomorrow for the world.

When we are at our best we cannot be matched.

Without us, we risk reverting to the world as it once was a century ago.