Lately I have been feeling like the United States is on borrowed time as a world power. This is not exactly an original thought, but watching the complete dysfunction in Washington and the state capitals (particularly the chaos engineered by the Republicans and Tea Party) makes me think there is no hope for the future of this country. What’s really bothering me is not so much that we will be overtaken soon, but that it will be China doing the overtaking. A repressive oligarchy that cares absolutely nothing for its populace and is not answerable either . . . well, that’s just unsettling. Why can’t it be India or Brazil? On the other hand, human civilization is near an end given the way we are overusing our natural resources and destroying the planet.
I wonder if one day I will wake up feeling like the British do–both pining for the glory days when they actually mattered (and yet also regretting them.)
