Everyone seems to think the US is dying. Is it?
America is on the decline. The United States has never been more divided. There is no hope of a resolution and the peak of America has long since passed, what remains is only a century of humiliation until our eventual sack-of-Rome-style downfall comes to pass.
I'm pretty sure everything is going to be fine
Take a look again. The United States is still growing, we are the undisputed champions of the new stage of the information age (like it or not, AI is the next leap forward for technology). Though the internet would like to tell you that it's us vs. them and there is no such thing as the center anymore, that's not true in real life. In real life, you can be friends with people left or right of you. The trouble comes with disconnecting and accepting reality as independent of the generated outrage that's tuned especially for you. We are not going to have a civil war, to the dismay of Russia, China, and other agitators online. And though this period of intense polarization seems to be unprecedented, is it really any worse than the Vietnam era, the Civil Rights movement, let alone the American Civil War? Hardly.
By what reasons can we remain positive in the face of an onslaught of negativity through every form of media? I've come up with a few:
Reasons to remain positive about America's future
1. Strife & conflict
Counter-intuitive, but I believe there's merit to the idea that the ongoing debates are a good sign for the sole reason that truly dead countries are stagnate. The fact that there are entities challenging things thought unchangeable is proof of aliveness. One of those entities is the current administration. I would have never thought that something like DOGE would have been possible growing up in the neoliberal regime. The tariff idea seemed like a joke when I first heard it, now it's bringing in more than $230 billion dollars of revenue for the US government. Power structures previously thought to be monolithic are being challenged.
Even if it appears to be a mark of decline, social conflict is a sign of life- it shows people have yet to resign to their fate.
2. Still the destination of choice for the most ambitious
It's well known at this point that the US is the place you go to make it. Whether that's in entertainment or business or technology, there are few other countries where you can reach a comparable level of success. This is especially true as an immigrant. Try starting a company in Sweden or Norway.
It's impossible, regulations and taxes will strangle your business in the crib. People still know that the land of opportunity is in the US.
3. Soft power
America is felt everywhere. While some countries have one ultrapopular cultural export that broke into the world consciousness, America has everything: movies, music, technology, and maybe most of all politics. Our dirty laundry is the spectacle of the world- why else would random cities in Germany be doing George Floyd protests in 2020? Why else would liberals from France to Uganda be cheering for the NYC mayor elect? And of course, the ubiquitous anti-Trump rallies that everyone from Australia to the Czech Republic can take part in. But I challenge you to ask someone who the Prime Minister, or even the main political parties, of those countries are?
Our news is the news, and where we go so goes the world.
4. Economic prosperity
Though since eroded from the everyman heyday of the 80s and 90s, the standard of living for an average American is still impressive compared to other first-world countries- though it's going through an undeniable hangover from the ZIRP period and the concept of owning a home where you wish to live is quickly becoming a fairy tale. But as long as you remain abreast with the other PMCs, you can enjoy the delights of farm-to-table tasting menus and vacations to Japan that a duke could have hardly dreamed of. Not just at the highest levels, but almost everyone among the middle class is living a more comfortable life than nearly anywhere else that isn't a cloistered ethnostate or a "migrant worker" powered Gulf state.
5. Lindyness
The US Constitution is the oldest constitution in history. As said before, we've been through decades of internal conflict and still come out standing while other, similarly powerful countries have been turned to dust or are beyond all recognition. We are nothing if not survivors, and no other country of our size is still what it was 300 years ago. That longevity speaks for itself. I believe what we need most now may be a reason to cast aside our partisan hatred and unite us once again- though those those things are often terrible, so I fear it as well.
These are my reasons that America will continue to grow and prosper. Though hard times may be ahead, I have a feeling we're going to be fine.