don't forget what is possibly the most important part of the american empire:
there has never in all of human history been a culture as globally dominant as america. there is nothing else that even comes close.
around the world, whose styles are copied, whose music, whose movies, whose culture?
to be sure, this simply was not possible until just recently. the internet age made everything local and america owns the internet. no one else is even relevant to its development.
the reason foreign "elites" rage so hard against america is that they know that they are being eaten by us and are powerless to stop it. "la fin de la semaine" becomes "le weekend" and no jumped up bureaucrat can mandate otherwise. pretty much no one is watching german movies or russian music videos.
it's america.
we absorb everything around us, run the melting pot of the best of the world's brightest, make it into something new that is our own, and then we go inhabit it.
that's the dream and it's one that no one else can manage, one that no one else dares.
the true american exceptionalism lies in the courage to unlock that and to become and to reject that which poisons it or pulls it down or tells us no.
and that's a dream worth having, a dream worth fighting for.
LFG.
My theory is that the American empire is JUST getting started.
US has a stranglehold on Space with SpaceX, which is the next frontier for defense/war. It has a comically large lead. No one will be close for at least 20 years.
It is the leading power in AI by far - both in models and chips. China is catching up fast, but the US has an inherent mechanism that will increase the likelihood that it will win in the end - a free market + capitalism + free speech.
A free market + capitalism allows for brutal competition between companies. Free speech allows for AI models to be maximally truth seeking, which means that AIs CAN and WILL BECOME smarter than humans to the point where they can tell the truth about its leaders.
This is literally impossible in China. Try having a Chinese model that says Xi Jinping is corrupt. Good luck with that.
Then, you have a country that has more guns than people and surrounded by two massive oceans and two friendly neighbors, which means any sort of kinetic take over of the country is literally impossible.
Not to mention the US has BY FAR the best and strongest military.
The only way adversaries can hope to defeat the US is by tearing it from within by pitting us against each other. This is why it's virtually guaranteed that all the division/hatred/polarization you see within the country is fomented by China/Russia Psy Ops + propaganda efforts.
I'm not saying these aren't naturally happening in spots - America is far from perfect - but it would be naive to think our adversaries aren't pouring millions of gallons of fuel on a fire.
As long as the American public a) has the ability to exercise its free speech b) has a protected 2nd amendment c) capitalism and free markets continue to function and d) the populace is aware of how awesome America really is, it is literally impossible to stop the US's trajectory to global domination in the coming decades, especially as China's demographics continue to collapse.
It's the bottom of the 9th, the game is tied, and the US has the bases loaded. It's a 3-2 pitch.
All we need is a home run, and we win the rest of the century.
For decades the American intelligentsia and the laptop class have demeaned, diminished, defamed, derogated and disparaged those of us who work with our hands and/or live in the American heartland.
For those same decades we just took it because all are entitled to free speech under the First Amendment.
We were actually polite about it. For decades.
But somewhere along the way the verbal attacks turned into functional, material attacks on our culture, our way of life and our pocket books.
But still we were polite about it and thought that we could express ourselves through the ballot box, and we did in 2016 by electing Donald Trump.
This was unacceptable to the intelligentsia/laptop class so they decided to launch a literal coup through the “Trump/Russia Collusion” hoax, they stole an election in 2020, and when that didn’t work for the next election, they tried to imprison the man we first elected on all manner of fabricated charges.
So we stopped being polite about it and no longer give even the slightest care about what our self-appointed “elites” think.
I just explained why we really, REALLY do not care that on the lawn of the White House a UFC fighter called Michelle Obama a “man.”
We REALLY don’t care, “elites.” You destroyed comity long ago, and you had this coming.
Plus you are going to get plenty more where that came from, I promise.
Deal with it, losers.
God bless America.
@MyLordBebo Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@HungaryBased Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@TonySeruga Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@WHLeavitt Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@BritisherPaz49 Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@pippaisright Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@RodSpode2@UKLabour Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@45johnmac Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@skscartoon Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@DerrickEvans4WV Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.
@ninnyd101 Englishman George Orwell knew the British “elite” had the totalitarian gene in their genetics, that’s why he warned us about them in his books.