Week 15 Sign-Off Post: Threats to the Republic

Threats to the Republic

Looming Hazards to American Power in the World

     This particular Module and the related discussion, in my opinion, was without question the most important topic we have debated to-date. I thought it was an absolutely fantastic note to end on as it allowed us to put our newly acquired stills to the test on what, if it occurs, is likely to be the defining issue of our era. The United States, as the defining power of our age, hold an incredibly influential position of leadership in the modern world. It wields a level of power that can shape the course of human history in a way that few other nations have ever been able to rival. Due to this awesome strength and position, and in an effort to preserve it, it is crucial to study the health of the world's leading nation and attempt to identify what threats may be looming that could topple its place.

      While the discussion we had in class was rightfully limited in scope and depth because of the inherent format and time constraints of an online course, it nevertheless enabled us as a class to take an initial foray into attempting to define what we saw as the greatest threat to health of American power in the world. The topics included a broad range of options such as pandemic and global warming, to inequality and the collapse of the global order established after the Second World War. In this regard, I stand by my group's position on the matter: the potential collapse of the post-WWII liberal world order, as the main mechanism for support of, and the primary conduit for, U.S. power, stands as the defining and most immediate threat to American power in the present day. The other options are uniquely crippling, but either less total in their impacts across the broad range of American power traits, or otherwise farther beyond the horizon than this looming threat. Defense a global system of governance that has produced the single greatest period of relative peace and prosperity in human history must be guarded as sacred, because for the time being, the alternatives both for the world and our Republic, are not appealing.

     All of this having been said, I think, personally, that there is a significantly greater, though less immediate threat to the long-term survival of U.S. power: cultural divergence. Its an issue that I wrote at length about in my previous semester and one that I could continue to talk about for some time. In essence, it centers on the notion that the United States is a conglomerate nation full of distinct cultural and regional groups. For some time, particularly since the 1960's, although the federal government itself remains highly active, on a cultural level that has been a devolution of inter-regional exchange in this country resulting in a return to regionalism. Left unchecked, such regionalism threatens to shatter the central unifying culture of the Republic and with it, the bonds that bind us together as Americans. This is a central theme of a multi-cultural state and it has been recognized as early on as the Roman Republic. The Romans regularly scrambled their legions as not only the primary conduit of inter-cultural exchange (read: contact theory) in the Republic, but also in an effort to minimize regionalism through territorial loyalty from long-term postings. This is a small glimpse of an ancient problem that still haunts multi-cultural states in the modern world. In short, it leads me to subscribe to the notion that great republics may be harmed from without, but they are defeated in totality only from within. I worry greatly that such an eventuality may occur and I believe it is absolutely paramount that we as a nation seek to correct this trend before it overwhelms the nation. If such a trend were to transpire in full, it would deal a much wider and more complete destruction of American power that none of the other options can quite compete with.

     To cap things off, this is my short take on what I view as the greatest threat to U.S. power. On one final note, I'd like to thank my blog group for an absolutely fantastic semester. It has been a great pleasure trading and debating theories and points of view with each one of you. I sincerely learned a great deal from our exchange and I look forward to our next opportunity to work together again. For now, Happy Holidays!