I was just thinking about how most people been hearing America is the number 1 country in the world since they were born. I don't know who the media will blame, but some will start stroking fear.
The average person might not care in the beginning, but once media, and politician starts making people fear I feel people are going to start looking for a "strong man" to save them.
It's kinda already losing it's power, and COVID was a huuuge blow that showed the rest of the world (who aren't US toadies) that the empire is falling. Yet we still have tons of people here who still believe in that American exceptionalism BS.
Yep. I have conservative friends who I try to explain to how the way the US government and constitution are built, we are fundamentally incapable to addressing challenges that arise that can't be solved by bombing shit. I don't even address it from a Marxist POV (that it was built this way on purpose not to have a government that is responsive, but one that is built to funnel money and power to capital), I usually just compare it to Rome - how any society that can't adapt to changing circumstances will eventually fail and collapse.
They just stick their heads in the sand at that and refuse to believe our big beautiful constitution could possibly not lead to the best government. Which in turn leads to cope which leads to blaming external forces like the CPC for all the problems associated with COVID.
I think this sticking there heads in the sand is understandable given how I think American culture derives ‘american-ness.’ Anyone can become American which is pretty unusual if you think about it. It’s clearly not any ethnic group even if this comes up in domestic politics about if American is a code word for white republicans. You can have someone immigrate to America at age 65 and become an red blooded “American.” That’s unusual on the world stage.
My theory is on a meta-level American-ness is a submission to a state of political ideals more than ethnicity/family ties, culture or some other meta-construct you see often as methods of justifying nation states. When you look at how most nation states form it’s almost always surrounding ethnic groups. When you point out that that American political system is unable to cope with problems I think you are poking at a third rail because without the system of government/political ideals working you undermine the unity story and If the American system of government isn’t working what’s there to replace “American” as a unified identity. How do you recontextualize that identity when there are not any good alternatives out there right now to do so?