Is the American Age over?

The end of the "greatest country on earth"

It’s de rigeur for US politicians to say, at least once in any speech and often many more times, that America is the greatest country on earth. I was sitting with a Dutch journalist at the Principles First conference when one of the politicians said it. We both winced. After years living abroad, I recoil just as foreigners do at this standard bit of rhetorical arrogance. When she realized I had had the same reaction, we smiled.

The world has always had mixed feelings about us, but admiration for our founding principles, legal system, and economic success has been almost universally shared. (Here’s an article on “The United States and Human Rights” from Global Perspectives on the United States that provides a good summary of the contradictions.)

The actions over the last 10 weeks by President Trump, however, are in a different category. The Financial Times this morning has a red banner across the top that reads, “Act of self-harm: Upending a global economic order that America helped to create.”

This piece from Jonathan Last at The Bulwark makes a case for this being the end of the American Age:

There is no going back.

If, tomorrow, Donald Trump revoked his entire regime of tariffs, it would not matter. It might temporarily delay some economic pain, but the rest of the world now understands that it must move forward without America.

If, tomorrow, Donald Trump abandoned his quest to annex Greenland and committed himself to the defense of Ukraine and the perpetuation of NATO, it would not matter. The free world now understands that its long-term security plans must be made with the understanding that America is a potential adversary, not an ally.

This realization may be painful for Americans. But we should know that the rest of the world understands us more clearly than we understand ourselves.

Vladimir Putin bet his life that American voters would be weak and decadent enough to return Donald Trump to the presidency. He was right.

Europeans are moving ahead with their own security plans because they realize, as a French minister put it, “We cannot leave the security of Europe in the hands of voters in Wisconsin every four years.” He was right.

The Canadian prime minister declared the age of American leadership over. [Watch here.] He was right.

Instead of arguing with this reality, or denying it, we should face it.

It’s bad enough being a failing empire. Let’s not also be a delusional failing empire. Let’s at least have some dignity about our situation.

The world will move on without us.

Economically this means that international trade will reorganize without the United States as the central hub. Relationships will be forged without concern as to our preferences. The dollar may well be displaced as the world’s reserve currency. American innovation will depart for other shores as the best and brightest choose to make their lives in countries where the rule of law is solid, secret police do not disappear people from the streets, and the government does not discourage research and make economic war on universities.

There’s a reason why countries like Belarus and El Salvador aren’t tech hubs.

All of this will mean slower growth at home and declining economic mobility. The pie will shrink and people will become more desperate to hold on to their slices.

If you want a small preview, look at what has happened to the British economy since Brexit. . . .

The end of the American era doesn’t mean everything will become chaos overnight. We aren’t going to wake up tomorrow to the sound of the blaring war rig horn from Mad Max. We are still a rich country, with momentum carrying us forward. But in ways that will soon be perceptible and eventually be undeniable, things will get worse. And facts about America and the world that we have taken for granted since the end of the Second World War will no longer hold true.

Read the whole thing at The Bulwark.

I’m going to be heading south on a “third places” research trip that must, I’m told, include a visit to Bojangles (“What is a bojangle?” I asked my friend). I’ll be posting about this Southern Tour, and hope to have some new examples for The Great Good Place II.

This Is America will need a new chapter, I know, but if you’d like a short trip through the history of the United States up until now, I’ve reduced the price of the downloadable PDF ebook to $0.99 this month.