Too often, we are quick to acknowledge what something is, without realizing how it came to be, or in this case how it will come to be. This type of thinking, where one breaks down the processes of change and the mechanisms that guide it, which was the concern of philosophers of centuries long past, philosophers like Aristotle who put object and change as one, and others like Descartes correcting them in making object and mechanisms of change, distinct. So resulted: Cause, and effect [and is the back bone of just about any academic school of thought]. This thinking, need not be ignored in our own century.
Recently, I have spent time reading Thomas Friedman's column in the NewYork Times, and have read column after column about the biggest concern that should be on every american's mind [but isn't] is how this century is being handed to China, India and anyone else interested in it on a silver platter [I imagine him getting bluer and bluer in the face, as I read more of his columns]. One such column, Got to Get this Right, places huge emphasis on the fact that the United States needs nation-building, and is lost with its own leadership at present, concerned with simple holding a popularity margin to get it through the next election, whether that be the president or congress. Part of this comes down to keeping up with the rest of the world, with China and India, who continue to grow in economic power, which will swiftly turn in the view not necessarily of Friedman but of other more neo-realist thinkers, into military power. Friedman talks about the United States needing to get its act together column after column, but I think beyond the remarks of Friedman that its important to remember that who's century this is, isn't normative. What do i mean what i say normative? you say. I mean that this century isn't set in stone already, like so many in China would love you to think, and so many in the United States seem to be making a habbit of worrying. Our actions make a difference and so will they in guiding this century.
It has been discussed for some time, both academically but also publically of the idea that this is to be the Asian century. But as George Friedman points out in his book, The Next 100 Years, that the Asian century has been discussed since the Nixon years, where many in the United States became convinced that their best years were behind them [as T. Friedman recently pointed out many american are also now]. Looking back, it could certainly be said [without getting all emotional and screaming "oh say can you see?"] that the United States has had some really good times since Nixon was president. However, if this really is to be the Asian century, if China, India, really are to be the next superpowers who direct foreign policy, and guide economic boom and bust phases, then this is also to be the 'Given Century'. What do i mean what i say that? I mean this: that anyone who suggests that this century is the asian one, is making it the case. An idea, a prophacy such as this, is too often a self fufilling one, where people see it as the asian century, and so too invest their money in asia, and watch asia, and the cycle of growth and influence spreads like a virius, as much of the mind, as of circumstance.
If this is the Asian century, it will also be the first 'given' because i can imagine this process will fold out, without a war like the decline of the British empire and European power, or without major disease like the Roman empire declined with. What excuse will this century have to be given up to Asia? The answer is: nothing but our own mind set. In so being the case, I want to reflect on my initial remarks, the process of change, and the object. [And you thought i threw in that babble about Aristotle for fun, this is the part where i see if you were listening.] One has to look not just at what others have and how we can get it, but remember how things work: How did the American century come about? Many would say, that it resulted from the decline of Europe after World War 2, where the United States was a safe haven for wealth, and was a superpower laying in wait. But all this, ignores that the United States was an economically free and thus prosperious nation. In this regard, Asian nations are missing something that it needs to become the next superpower: The Statue of Liberty! Don't suggest that China is the next super power when they are communist, and will so quickly limit and censor what is on the internet and isn't on the political agenda! America got where it is because of its freedom, as much economic and political. Freedom is the name of the current game, no nation will rise to the United State's demise without it.
I am not bagging on China, nor India, bother are great countries, with there current economic strides setting great examples for other nations potentially. But what i am saying is this: there still remains open the possibility that this is not the given century, for in the end, whether the United States steps down and someone else steps up depends on how one sees the world, and what one does in the world. This century, isn't destined to be the Asian century, instead, as much for Americans as for China or whoever else, it is for whoever wants it. It is with this is mind, I tell you that the 'given century' is not the newist prediction, but is instead its own un-doing. For changes in centuries are up to those involved: a nation and superpower are only what they make for themselves. To Americans therefore i say this: whos century this is, it remains up to you! Keep you eyes on the ball, and what you need to do. Don't forget, the road to change is pavent with bricks. Get competitive, the battle ground has changed and the rule narrows down to just one: Be the best, or step aside. Change doesn't just come out of nowhere, you should make sure you remind China of that and fight, not with your bombs, but with your heads and your work ethic, before you simply give this century away.
