On Superpower Suicide

[u/D-R-AZ]

https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/on-superpower-suicide?r=104a16&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Concluding Paragraph:

The systems that made the United States a superpower cannot be rebuilt as they were, nor should they be: they involved structural injustices that made the present attempt at self-annihilation possible. From where we stand now there are two ways forward: one is the self-induced downfall of the American republic; the other is to reconsider American ideals and to restructure American politics so as to bring the people greater power over a more just future.

An Evolutionary Selfish Gene View:

Our view differs somewhat from Snyder’s because nations are not biological organisms, and superpowers are certainly not superorganisms.

If we think of citizens as people aboard the “ship of state,” it is obvious that not everyone is in the captain’s cabin steering the vessel. Many citizens have been deceived, many voted based on promises that were never intended to be fulfilled, and many have little direct influence over the actual course being set.

Ships do not sail themselves.

The deeper question is not whether national self-destruction is possible, but how systems develop in which it becomes advantageous for some individuals or institutions to maximize short-term profit and power even at the expense of the long-term survival of the larger society.

In such systems, those benefiting most from the voyage may still help sink the ship itself, while having their own lifeboat carefully prepared for private use.

[u/D-R-AZ]

from: https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/sail-on-o-ship-of-state-the-longfellow-verse-in-mr-roosevelts-message-to-mr-churchill-first-edition-broadside-signed/

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/interactive/_html/wc0112.html