Why America Should Drop Its Obsession With Being No. 1
Why America Should Drop Its Obsession With Being No. 1
9 Comments
By Danny Quah, the Li Ka Shing professor in economics and dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore:
“Dear Madam or Mr. President,
Congratulations on leading the United States in a political refresh. From here in Southeast Asia, we have for decades admired and valued your country’s many gifts to the world. The United States gained our admiration by sharing with us your American Dream, showing how you succeeded, and leading by example.
But there is no denying that things have changed. Even the outcomes for which you early on fought—multilateralism, or a level playing field; a jointly stronger world economy—now seem to work against you. Toward the end of the 20th century, you advanced three grand ideas: political convergence, economic efficiency, and comparative advantage. These promised a more prosperous and egalitarian global society. But they have not delivered the outcomes for which you had wished. That must be dispiriting and exhausting.
However, I believe the world can continue to work well for you and, indeed, for all of us. To succeed, we only have to avoid gridlock. We don’t have to explicitly cooperate or even agree.
I have three suggestions…”
The world is much better off with being under American hegemony than any other superpower.
Nice try China.
Are we obsessed with being No. 1? It kind of feels like we just fell into the position by our good fortune, and now, every alternative is just objectively worse if you aren’t a Chinese or Russian nationalist.
Hahahaha. No.
The US did everything in its power not to be no. 1.
If they wanted to be number 1 they would’ve never tried helping the Russians after their empire collapsed, nor would they have tried to help the Chinese become who they are today.
Well played No. 2, well played
What a strange article.
The author chastises the US for not doing more to uplift the bottom 50% of its population in the past 50 years, while also highlighting the loss of manufacturing jobs to China during this period, but claims China becoming more wealthy/powerful has had and will have zero negative impacts on Americans whatsoever. He also references the US’s and the Wests struggles with democratic backsliding, but completely ignores China’s support for autocratic movements and their clampdowns on human rights, both domestic and abroad.
Furthermore, this article has zero mentions of technology theft, anti-American propaganda, social media manipulation, support for enemies of the US, election meddling, etc. I guess these don’t count as negatively impacting Americans as long as overall GDP is going up or something? That’s not even addressing the implications of if China is able to exercise a more muscular foreign policy against the US or allies. An occupation of Taiwan or conflict with the Philippines/Japan/etc will certainly impact the average American’s wellbeing when the global economy tanks, even if the US isn’t drawn into an outright war.
Just a lazy and disingenuous piece. I usually expect better from FP.
Nr 1 in schoolshootings and adults who think angels are real.