Today is the day when the British freed themselves from a despotic monarchy and declared independence. Unfortunately, they were unable to liberate their homeland of the British Isles, but those Britons willing to stand up to a tyrannical king went on to become “Americans” and created a world superpower, invented the corndog, and gave the world Bob Dylan.
The rest of us hung around in Britain until the monarchy became so attenuated that no-one was quite sure what its role was, apart from making lots of money while paying less tax, driving wine-powered cars and reverting to their roots by selling sausages to their subjects.
Remember Americans, without your revolution you’d all be drinking tea and eating crumpets like what we do, when we aren’t drinking Starbucks and eating eating blueberry muffins.
And for more serious reading and discussion, read The Future of American Power: How America Can Survive the Rise of the Rest by Fareed Zakaria.
The world is changing, but it is going the United States’ way. The rest that are rising are embracing markets, democratic government (of some form or another), and greater openness and transparency. It might be a world in which the United States takes up less space, but it is one in which American ideas and ideals are overwhelmingly dominant. The United States has a window of opportunity to shape and master the changing global landscape, but only if it first recognizes that the post-American world is a reality — and embraces and celebrates that fact.
