Can the U.S. afford to be the World’s Super Power?

We take the size and might of this nation for granted all too often. What made us a super power was our military, our economy, and the weakened status of other nations. After the cold war ended and we found ourselves with a strong economy, a built up military, and the only nation in the world capable of being the world’s policeman (the role of the sole super power), we naturally assumed the role. We assumed the role because we thought it was in our best interest. As a super power, we hoped to establish world order and world peace. Well look around, neither happened!

Most of the States in the U. S. rank as top players worldwide in Gross Domestic Product. Essentially, the U.S. is made of thirty-five to forty of the most powerful nations in the world measured by GDP. If we were not the United States of America, North America would house a lion’s share of the mightiest nations on earth. When we assumed the role of the sole super power, we were actually thirty-five or forty nation equivalents assuming that role jointly. This is just an illustration of how powerful we really were. It sounds a lot better when you view the world’s super power role as a collation of thirty-five or forty of the most powerful nations on earth. It made sense to assume the role.

Today, the benefits of being a super power are more unclear than ever. The results of being that superpower are disheartening. To add to this consternation is the change in the world among other nations who are challenging our role as the sole super power. There are two growing reason for this – energy and trade. Nations like China are growing exponentially by using trade and manufacturing and, along the way, developing a voracious appetite for energy. Nations like Russia and Iran are growing in power because they have energy to burn, so to speak. Our desperate need for energy and our lack of trade balance saps us of our world power each and every day.

What does it take to be the world’s super power? Clearly it takes a mighty military, with a global reach. It also takes money. An inventory of our capability to be the world’s sole super power finds a slowing economy, a lack of good paying jobs, continued and frightening balance of trade deficits, annual budget deficits, a gargantuan national debt, an undermanned military and a growing tendency to spend on entitlements.

When we weigh the cost of being the world’s policeman and the results we achieved versus where we wish to be as a nation, we must consider that we are no longer capable of being the sole super power. We are not capable because we need to fix key elements of our economy. We need to focus on building our GDP to support what is today a sixty plus percent entitlement, plus additional entitlements for tomorrow, and the rebuilding of our military. Grow GDP and the percentage of entitlements drops, allowing us to spend on education, the military, etc. We can grow GDP by vastly improving our trade, by being very competitive with quality goods and commodities. We need to build up our national inventory of good paying jobs and eliminate our budget deficits each and every year. How can we successfully grow our military to meet the multifaceted threats from conventional, nuclear, and guerilla warfare emanating from both emerging very powerful nations and non-nation entities? We need real money which we simply do not have to continue to spend on these threats. In today’s truly worldwide economy, we must become a leading positive trade player or we will continue to shrink good jobs and continue to be a disadvantage former power in years to come.

We can no longer take the size and might of this nation for granted. We were the sole super power due to our military, our economy, and the weakened status of the other earthly nations – all this has changed!

We need to re-think our European and Asian deployment of troops. The economies of Europe, Japan, and South Korea can sustain a strong self defense with a larger military. Let them spend more of their GDP on defense and less of ours. This would be a good start. Restructure our tax code to allow for our domestic companies to prosper by trading worldwide with production occurring in this country. This would create good paying jobs for U.S citizens and contribute to the growth of our GDP so we can pay for a strong military and the entitlements we want.