In my recent rant:
http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/Hey-Liberal...Gregorie brought up a very valid fear and opinion that has been floating around ever since the decline of our economy in the G.W. Bush years. I would have responded there but it is way off topic and so I am posting it as it's own independent rant here. Feel free to join in as we discuss the role of China in the American economy. His quote goes as follows:
According to my friend Wan Hung Lo this is what the above says:
My dear American friends, you seem to think your future is to play a role in which you, please understand that it is not. We will not tolerate your laziness generally been among the contractors, guests indulge in some populations, but should not bear any guilt in the destruction. You know the members according to productivity, and implementation of our instructions. But know your stupid attitude, especially on gender equality than the mediocre, the intellectual among you will not be tolerated. We Arte, and has been a noble race, and you attempt to equality with our imagination, whether there will be a swift and certain correction to meet.
He tells me the OP probably meant that as Americans we vainly imagine we play a role in our own future.He said that the speaker is saying the over indulged and indolent presently among us will be expunged without any guilt and that only productive members will be allowed to continue.
Also that silly notions of equality that have been promulgated will not be tolerated for they are the superior race, and as such, make no apologies and will give no reasons for the swift and certain judgment of those who vainly imagine equality to them.
Funny thing however about the American view of Chinese superiority is:
1) Their communist revolution "expunged" as you put it their nearly 12,000 year old culture.
Had it not been for stalwart, covert, rebels they would have exterminated their own identity, period.
2) Their Racial "purity" is the result of almost 12,000 years of inter continental mixing.
Their current shifting of native populations across the continent for economic improvement is resulting in the bastardization of native peoples and cultures as they shift and mingle.
3) Their Economic boon is not the result of modeling their old communist economic system but an adaptation of the American Capitalist one.
4) The speed of their economic growth is due in large part to the same favorable conditions that helped America become a super power.
They have access to a lot of inexpensive natural resources and access to a lot of inexpensive (slave like) labor.
So frankly I don't see where their superiority lies. Perhaps their prowess might lie in switching the course of their economic future full steam when they saw the defeat of communism and socialism in the eighties.
While not admitting defeat they sure adopted a, "if you can't beat them with your system, reverse engineer theirs and beat them with that.
I'll take a chance and play the role of the optimist here, perhaps they are not striving for world domination. Perhaps they are just playing catch up. Their purchase of American debt should not be viewed as a sign of a weakening American economy but of the faith the Chinese have in our economy. Sort of like when a little five year old longs to play football with the big boys but can't because he is to young but is still allowed to carry their equipment and bring the players refreshments.
I'm not suggesting the Chinese are that far behind, but I am suggesting that right now they are playing a supporting role in our economy, which they willingly partake in because of their faith and hope of our success. If it were the reverse than quite frankly I don't imagine the Chinese would have invested a penny in the US. They have investments in Africa and Brazil as well that seem promising. We are not the only game in town. They have confidence in the American Economic system.
That's my opinion. What do you think?
UPDATE - 20 months ago
This update addresses the issues brought up by Gregorie in his first comment to this post. It elaborates on the ideas I brought forth in the initial rant.Prior to the acquisition of nuclear power the fight for cultural as well as industrial supremacy simply required a large enough supply of low or no cost labor and natural resources, the resolve was backed by big guns. Today the resources are scares and expensive and the weapons have the capability of annihilating all life as we know it. It is not that, "This country no longer has the belly for maintaining primacy" It is that diplomacy is the obvious and superior weapon for our generation. Only a fool runs screaming into enemy territory without first sending ambassadors to ascertain how complex is the situation. It is like comparing dodge ball to chess, the time for dodge ball is over. We've grown up and now we must play chess!
Furthermore, your description of a failed vision of the American dream due to whining, excess, immorality and conformity warrants more than a vague gloss over. What you describe are symptoms of unrestricted commercial trafficking. The success of capitalism is also its failure. Our economic system is not designed with ethical fail safes. The framers of the constitution put the economic power of success in the peoples hands because traditionally government has been the abuser of power and wealth instead of it's equitable administrator but this shift was not left without warnings to future generations. Ethics in commerce is the central component in Capitalism that cannot be bartered or sold for profit, which is why it is often discarded as trash.
You dismiss this key to a prosperous invigorated America, that is ethics in commerce, and insist that the moral and intellectual pursuit of diplomacy is effeminate and that what we need instead is brute force. The argument that you make favors arguments made by Sun Tzu that to succeed in battle justifies all the costs of the war. American leaders have also studied the 6th century text penned by this very Chinese Mr. Tzu. But I should need not remind you that our problem is not a military conflict but the failure to regulate industries and corporations that set the standards internationally for what is or isn't ethical business practice.
You also seem to forget or ignore that Every major International Corporation was born from Western Industry and Western style capitalism. It is our failure as a nation to insist from our US government that they hold these corporations accountable that has lead to the unfortunate rise of Communist, Muslim, Imperialistic and Tyrannical lead corporate ventures from nonwestern countries who unlike us have enforced their set of ethics to drive the competition under.
Ultimately the war you envision is not one of weapons, because that would spell certain disaster for humanity, it is one of ideals. Fairness and equity seems to have become taboo words in the Republican Lexicon, words that the Tea party associates with Marxism or Socialism. Should the right wing dig back into their Sunday school lesson books they would find that they were Christian principles before they were Socialist. A wise conservative would thus divert some of his energies to ensure equity in business and law instead of focusing all his attention to the bottom dollar, which he has watched plummet due to unethical corporate practices and dealings.