Is America a declining power?

You got a bad case of the Breitbart brain. You're really trying to logic your way through a paragraph, but it's just not there.

The rest of the world is getting far more powerful. In the 1990s the US was the sole superpower because everyone else was so far behind.

The US is still by far the largest cultural, economic and military power. But the gap is far less than 30 years ago. China may eventually catch up, but they have enormous headwinds. The low hanging fruit is picked for them. They have to figure out how to be competitive as an advanced economy, which is fraught with landmines. Not to mention their colossal demographic problems from one child.

European influence is waning. They will become far less important globally. Population collapse is an enormous problem for the entire continent.

Militarily we aren't but in so many important areas like education we are definitely falling behind. While Americans are busy getting fat and entertaining themselves they are content to let dumb, corrupt politicians run roughshod over their lives.

We all have opinions. Here's mine.

The Oligarchs have grabbed everything that's not nailed down ever since Reagan took office in 1981. The rich keep their power via "divide and conquer" -- as witness Trump's only skill, telling the disenfranchised and the suckers who to hate. The billionaire class has made a mess of things in their singular, profound greed. Hate is not the answer.

The country is weighed down by the curse of guns guns guns everwhere, along with classism, racism and xenophobic tendencies.

There is still a lot of know-how and power all around the USA, in knowledge and in many industrial, business and creative disciplines, and still a strong military of course. The oligarch class needs to give it back to the people so the country can thrive. The people need to make common cause and quit bickering.

Answer = Yes, but only slowly. Still many decades as #1. A more interesting question is...does it matter? Look at some (most?) European countries. Declining for centuries, overtaken in economies/population/power by several others, but still 1st world and often a whole lot more fun to live in than the USA. Having spent 30 yrs in UK followed by 30 yrs in US, I've often pondered why the UK basically threw in the "greatest nation" towel after WW1 and preferred to just willfully loaf along and live in the past, while making a national sport of declinism and complaining of 'foreign competition'. After over a century of humiliation, it's STILL a pretty great place to live!

Remember, in the 1800's the UK was top dog, but living conditions for many lower/middles was awful. In the 1900's the UK was a joke in the league tables, but the lower/middles never had it so good, even now. China is currently exploding, but lots of lower/middles are complaining about more $ but more unhappiness. That's the price you pay for being a rising power - you have to actually try, which is painful. The US dominance is wobbling because they are finding out what all previous dominant powers did after a few centuries, staying #1 just is too much work!

Absolutely. But it's just the passage of time. Get rid of all the end-of-history stuff. It'd be hard to disagree in the short term that this is how things will persist. But in the long run China/Taiwan, Russia/Ukraine, US/X distinctions will dissolve because they are arbitrary and not economical.

As for "over and over in history," I'm not so sure. Clearly our notion of nationhood has evolved periodically, and we're due for an overhaul. "Geopolitics will always exist" is a silly statement in that truly global (realtime and thoroughly integrated) geopolitics has only existed since my grandfather's era.

This is an interesting take, but I can't imagine this happening without an absolute meltdown that would negate current ideas of nationhood altogether. How would, for example, the US become an actual ethnostate at this point? Or SA or the UK or wherever?

Ourv diversity is a source of strength, not weakness. And if you think one billion people in China think and act exactly the same way, you know very little about Chinese history. Do you happen to know what Sun Yat-sen said about Chinese people?

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We're doing our best to become a declining power. Leading the way are bills such as the "Inflation Reduction Act", which will increase inflation, increase our national debt, help pay for Americans to buy electric cars (with $$ we don't have), which will be powered by electricity we don't have. Pure genius.

My immediate reaction is to say "yes, this country is in decline," because of the lack of social cohesion here. Watching public civility fall apart over the last two years (but perhaps that collapse can be dated earlier) has been a ghastly spectacle, and even as anyone with half a brain is capable of critiquing the cable-news-fueled information bubbles many Americans inhabit, the media outlets are too deeply entrenched to effect serious change.

I hear at least two different stories about our daily lives: the first is similar to another post on this thread, namely that TikTok, Instagram, etc. are ruining people's attention span and lives, especially those of the youngest people, and we are all more or less powerless to do anything about it. However, I also hear rumblings among some of my peers (I'm 26) that people are growing tired of this sort of thing, and have become more aware every year of the massive void in American life.

Many of fiction writers of the last century, such as John Updike, implicitly criticized the hedonistic and consumerist lives led by large swathes of the US population. What makes reading about that period interesting is that for a long time certain traditions and mores from the first part of modernity (e.g., religion and the nuclear family) were able to weather the storm, as it were, and to temper some of the younger generations' excesses. In short, at least the social rebels of the 1960s and 70s had something coherent to rebel against in the first place, which we do not have. Now, for the members of the ultra-relativist, atheist, and choice-obsessed US society, there is nothing on offer except a perverse seesaw (very pronounced among 18-30 year olds) between enjoyment of bodily pleasures on the one hand, and then anger and indignation about the news on the other. To be sure, this emptiness is a global problem, but has become pronounced in the US over the past three years, and does not seem to be going anywhere for the moment.

I am glad to read the more sanguine opinions on the United States' economic position, but socially and culturally, America is in a lot of pain, and we need to do something about the total absence of values and positively asserted ideas. We are adrift and distracted, with nothing to anchor us to reality, and nothing to pass on to our children

Jeez's

You's are so narrow minded that's you's cannot appreciate all the great varying response's (civil albeit !) on this topic.

I've done pretty well for my self's only having "elementary" writing skill's. Lived in China, Germany, France and Sunnyvale.

Make $420k year"s. Super model wife still after 30 year's married. Ran low 14's in college and low 19's now at 59's

World could use less people like you's

The rate of our decline will depend on whether we continue to lean into the increasing indifference or hostility to experts, education, and expertise. The US has had at least some of that for a long time - it's practically part of the culture. But lately it's been getting worse.

And this couldn't be happening at a worse time. As we proceed into the 21st century the prominence and complexity of knowledge-based technical fields is only becoming more important for maintaining a 1st world economy.

On top of this we have a significant segment of the population that is hostile to immigration. Many of this cohort are skeptical of all immigration, including the high-skilled immigrants we need to make up our increasing educational shortfall.

So we're fine for now, but on our current course the long term prognosis is poor. One day, generations from now, people may look around and wonder what happened to what was once the world leading economy. By that point we'll have net negative immigration as even native-born Americans start looking for better lives elsewhere. Assuming anybody will take them.

So your point is that the Chinese have more diversity of thought that the USA? I'm just saying between the two nations the Chinese are MORE monolithic in ethnicity, thought, culture. (How is that even debatable?) Because of their similarity a leader can move those people in one direction much more easily than a diverse nation.

I said I that the USA is strong due to our immigration and mix of people. (mongrel "mutt" dogs are more resistant to disease than pure breeds.) BUT.. that diversity causes more debate, it means we don't all see things the same, so in turn it's more difficult to mobilize all of us to one task.

The America's in general are not ethno states, but we do have natural borders. So imagine the US without it's territories beyond the 48. I could see a number of countries in SA being gobbled up by one larger one, or larger countries shrinking back to where they are able to manage "their people".

Cannot wait to retire in Thailand.

Now is the last time in history that the USA could effectively destroy authoritarian rule on the planet. With it's present allies in NATO China's and Russia's governments could both be destroyed and democratic rule could be forced upon them. Minor despot ruled counties such as NK would take notice and repel their dictators out of fear of forced compliance. Its now or never freedom lovers.

Just because China is less diverse in ethnicity and culture, that doesn't mean it's easier for a leader to move people in one direction. As Sun Yat-Sen said, they are like a loose sheet of sand. They are incapable of moving in one direction because they have such little trust in authority. Their allegiance is to their families and clans, not anything bigger. The only time they become nationalistic is when they have a common enemy.

When the CCP issues any new decree, the first thing most people think about is how to avoid compliance without getting caught.

Which is exactly what I was talking about. So we agree.

Relative to other countries? Sure. But relative to it's past self? Absolutely not. It is stronger and more prosperous than at any time in it's history.