Lately, on this blog, I have been discussing the need for continued U.S. world leadership.  We are the strongest country in the world, economically and militarily.  We are the leader of the free (democratic) world.  We do, of course, have autocratic adversaries nipping at our heels.  But it is our responsibility to continue promoting the free, democratic world order we created after WWII and have supported and defended ever since.

Is the U.S. capable of continuing to fulfill this critical role?  What is involved?

• First of all, we have enormous strengths as a nation.  By stretching across the entire North American continent, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, and with friendly northern and southern neighbors, we are difficult to conquer. We have a brilliant, long-lasting, constitutional form of government which has made us, and keeps us, free and prosperous.  We continue to have a dynamic, entrepreneurial economy of rugged individualists that leads the world in developing new products and technologies.
• We are making steady social progress. Slavery ended in 1865.  Jim Crow racism ended in the 1960s civil rights era. Black poverty declined dramatically from 1940 to 1960, and significantly from 1960 to 1970.  This decline still continues, but more slowly.  In addition, child poverty was lower than ever in 2022.  As another example, school choice is expanding dramatically.
• In recent years, a new problem has arisen: political polarization. The left denounces the evil of what it claims the country has always been: racist, oppressive, toxically male, transphobic. The right rages against the evil of what the country has become: perverse, perverted, Marxist, elitist, woke.   The two sides don’t trust each other.  A deeper fear is that this nightmare is just getting started.  Artificial Intelligence might magnify our differences by generating and spreading even more misinformation on its own.
• In the midst of our domestic political strife, humanity overall is making much progress.  Global child mortality is decreasing. One hundred thousand people are emerging from extreme poverty per day.  On the world health front, polio and Guinea worm disease are near eradication. In the U.S., CRISPR gene-editing techniques are starting to be used for sickle cell disease and other ailments.

Conclusion.  On the one hand, the U.S. is a strong, prosperous country that has been very successful in creating a stable and relatively peaceful world order since the end of WWII. Furthermore, great progress is being made worldwide in reducing poverty and improving health.  On the other hand, the U.S. is in the midst of great political strife.  How will our internal divisions play out in the end?  We likely won’t know the outcome for some time.  But I, personally, am optimistic that we, the “indispensable” nation, will be able to resolve our political differences in such a way that our world leadership role will continue unabated for many years to come.

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