The US Plate Of Global Interests - Is It Overflowing?
With the US having interests all around the globe, how many interests is too many? And why don't we all work together towards the same goals?
The US will try to maintain hegemony through greater influence in its interests, but will its plate be overflowing?
As I said a few weeks ago, those who distance themselves from geopolitical tensions give themselves the best standing to gain power. Look at the US after World War Two. On the clear world leaderboard, governments will do anything to rise up and maintain leading positions.
I included Brazil as a country removed from geopolitical tensions. But now, Biden in a recent speech has said that Bolsonaro should accept the election results regardless of what they are. Tensions are rising in Brazil. Tucker Carlson sums it up, how the US and other countries are increasingly interfering in elections in other countries.
Governments say you should accept the results as they are. How much confidence does this distil in the validity of any election results? The democratic system is broken if millions of people won’t accept election results. In the 2024 US election, neither side will be willing to accept defeat. They weren’t in 2020 and it led to the storming of the Capitol Building. We could have Biden and Trump locking horns again in 2024. After the consequences of the last result, an increase in the severity of actions of those who don’t accept defeat would not surprise me. If the system won’t change, we see people protest these systems until something changes.
Two sources, the first being FiveThirtyEight, put Joe Biden’s approval rating at 42.7%. RealClearPolitics put his approval rating at 43%. Trump’s approval average was 41%. Biden’s highest approval has been 57% in February 2021 and April 2021. His lowest approval rating was 38%, in July 2022. Spot the trend? Now, a trend being established doesn’t mean it will continue. This isn’t me supporting a side in American politics. I’m British for a start. But it clearly highlights the quality of the current and previous presidents in the eyes of the American people.
Weak leaders make tough times. Tough times make strong leaders. Strong leaders make good times. And good times make weak leaders. Take a guess where we find ourselves today. There are weak leaders everywhere who ate contributing towards tough times. I see so many news articles about the US and Russia meeting for peace talks about Ukraine, but one side always pulls out or doesn’t answer. It makes me feel like they want this. For what possible reasons could they want it? Beats me.
Nobody trusts elections because of governments. The Biden administration tells you that you must accept the election results in your own country, regardless of what that result is. They ask this out of trust that they’re moral. Is it democracy if one of its main staples of the system, a fair vote, is flawed? The voting system needs reform. It at least needs back checks to ensure its validity. For the government’s sake if they want to remain in power. Transparency and honesty are key in any relationship. But if it's lacking between a government and the citizens, the only way it can be fought is by being taken to protest.
We fight over our differences. But, we’re all human. If people were allowed to express themselves as they wanted (within reason of course), I think we’d live in a happier place. Imagine what we could create if we collaborated more as humans, not isolated as citizens of countries. We will see this in space exploration and bases on the moon. But then we’ll stop seeing it as countries get greedy. It’s always just entities, be that countries’ governments or individuals, acting in their own self-interest. How could we unite all towards the same self-interest? If tensions continue to rise, could we all be united in the interest to survive? I can think of better ways we can prosper. We can have conflicts and disagreements but handle them in the right way. Through disagreements, we can grow. We can learn how we’re wrong, what our biases are, and what our knowledge gaps are. From this, we can improve ourselves. Why are we competing with each other when we can compete with ourselves from yesterday?
We fight over commodities but there are asteroids out there commodities out there that could provide resources for a very long time. If only we worked towards similar goals together. But this is inequality. Why would someone who has so much power want to give that up? They wouldn’t. And that’s why we see so many aspects of life involve conflict to maintain power.
Is fighting in our genes? It used to be. As hunter-gatherers, we had to fight to survive. We didn’t know where the next meal was coming from and self-sufficiency was the key principle for survival. If you want food, grow it and feed yourself. Of course, the lack of medicine back then led to short lives, and you had to fight animals and other people to survive. But in the age of technology, communication has improved. Life expectancy has improved. Medicine has improved. So now we fight for status, belonging, and power? But are these the true measurements of human success? Why isn’t the fight for happiness? Or meaningful relationships? Why would you want to belong to something that causes pain to others? How can combat incite positive feelings? The aftermath of a good conflict where both sides understood and respected each other, without resorting to violence could be one way. But not during the conflicts we’re seeing now. The desperate grabs for relevancy, power and status. These only bring suffering and pain.
US policy influences the entire world, but as soon as any interest is under threat, the US provides security. They have the biggest armed forces in the world, and nobody comes close. Back to Mahan’s theory of Sea Power. The US control the global oceans, hence it controls the world. One of the tensest areas in the world currently is China and Taiwan. The US sailed their carrier groups straight down the Taiwan Strait after the Nancy Pelosi visits in August. Nobody can touch them. Yet. The current world order is going to be under pressure. As Ray Dalio says, we are approaching the final stage in the life cycle of an empire.
So the US won’t get challenged directly right now in external politics. But will their internal politics be their undoing?