For over a century and a half, the United States stood as a colossus that spanned the globe, a power respected and feared by most of the world’s tinpot dictators and fawned upon by those who aspired to greatness by basking in the glow of our position in the universe.
We Americans had every right to feel proud of the accomplishments of America. In the 20th Century, dubbed the “American century” by many, we established our preeminence in the pantheon of nations. We fought in and won World War 1, as we entered a war that was a stalemate and led the Allies to victory over the German Empire. Our economy grew and we dominated in producing goods and services, to the envy of the older civilizations.
Even when a Great Depression hit, we overcame and remained the preeminent power in the world. Along the way, great strides that benefited humanity were made in the United States. Our citizens created empires of steel, oil and chemicals industries. The telephone was invented here. Powered flight found its genesis in the Wright Brothers bicycle shop. In the 1920s television was first conceived and put into practical use. Although the Soviets were the ‘first’ to put a satellite into space, an American pioneered rocketry in the ‘20s.
After the Great Depression, the Americans again showed their strength. First, we became the ‘arsenal of democracy’, arming the Allies in their struggle against Nazi Germany, and then entered the war against the Japanese and the Germans. By war’s end, over 16 million of our country men and woman served in that great fight. Along the way, new and better aircraft and arms were invented and improved to carry the battle to our enemies. The Manhattan project produced the first nuclear weapon, and two of those bombs finally brought Japan to surrender.
Our intervention (through the United Nations) prevented the North Koreans and Chinese from imposing communism on the Korean Peninsula, and our nuclear ‘umbrella’ kept Japan free and in the capitalist economic realm. Through NATO and SEATO, other nations were kept from being swallowed up by the Russian and Chinese blocs. A disastrous war in Vietnam damaged our prestige, but never weakened our position atop the world’s regimes.
In the 1980s, the Cold War, waged since 1945 between those behind the Iron Curtain and those on the free side of it, ended with an American led victory when the USSR collapsed. Needless to say, our place and prestige took numerous hits, but by and large, the United States kept its position as the preeminent nation. American Presidents were honored, feted and given preference in world circles.
Until now.
For the past 19 months, world leaders have spurned, insulted and disregarded our President*, Joe Biden. The list of those who have disrespected him and his minions is long and varied. Following is just a few of the times when American has been downgraded in the world’s eyes because of the actions of this administration.
Just a year ago, American forces left Afghanistan in a shameful manner. We left 13 Americans dead in the chaotic removal of our troops and those Afghans who supported our efforts over almost 20 years. We allowed the Taliban, a vicious cabal of those who hate us and who compel their people to live under harsh rule to return to power there. We did not even consult our allies, especially the British, about our withdrawal, and many who should have been evacuated were left in that bloody country.
Canada’s socialist Prime Minister, the pseudo-dictator Justin Trudeau, was critical of our leadership. Mexico’s President was upset by the way Biden and his followers were handling the illegal immigration on our southern border, and France’s President also showed his disdain toward the American President.
North Korea’s corpulent Supreme Leader, who had been kept in check by President Trump, has now, with little fear of the U. S., been beefing up his nuclear arsenal and practicing his missile capabilities. China has been flexing its muscles in the Far East, and has dared us to do anything about their belligerence toward Taiwan and taking control of the islands and territory in the South China Sea.
Most astute observers feel that the weakness showed by our President emboldened Russian strong man, Vladimir Putin, in his attack on Ukraine. We have put billions of our tax dollars to help that beleaguered nation, but nothing we say has any effect on the Russian bear.
When our gas prices rose under Biden’s policy of shutting down our fossil fuel industry, our Chief Executive asked a couple of the major OPEC nations to increase production of petroleum; they refused to take his calls. Biden then made a trip to Saudi Arabia, which included the famous fist bump with the Saudi leader, and came back with nothing in hand.
Let’s see – we have just listed the Afghans, the British, the French, the Chinese, the Russians the North Koreans, the Canadians — all, plus others, have shown that the prestige of the United States, respect for our nation, fear of our might have plummeted across the world stage.
But what shows just how low we have sunk was seen this last week by this statement by a Third World leader about the now infamous FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida: “What would the US Government say, if OUR police raided the house of one of the main possible contenders of OUR 2024 presidential election?” Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador since 2019, tweeted on Wednesday, sharing a TMZ article about the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
The head of a small nation, who leads a nation where leaders have been charged with subverting human rights and embezzling millions, is criticizing US? Next thing you know, some small duchy will declare war on the Unites States, and we, led by an aging, senile old man will cave to their demands — but instead of comedy, like The Mouse That Roared, the 1959 movie that posited just a scenario, it will be real and farcical.
Just how low can we go until we vote these incompetents out of office and restore the nation to its greatness?