As a political independent, I take all political parties’ rhetoric with a grain of salt. The fight to recruit voters seems to have moved from a policy-only strategy to rhetorical psyops techniques. I refuse to be bullied or manipulated into my viewpoints. So, I read historical accounts and as much factual information as possible. One of my favorite sources is usafacts.org. It is an apolitical platform that publishes data collected by governmental programs.
The truth is under assault in this country. Finding reliable sources of data is increasingly difficult. Not only have organizations once trusted to be unbiased become politicized, but science funding has put pressure on scientists to compromise their integrity. Living in a college town, I know good scientists who care too much about their work to compromise the sanctity of the scientific method. I also hear persistent stories of more unscrupulous behavior.
Sources we once trusted for reliable data are less trustworthy. Against this backdrop of increasingly untrustworthy data sources, politicians of different parties are grooming their messaging around convenient “facts,” whether they are accurate or not. Leveraging the bad fact choices of the other side, each party can now claim that it is good and right while the other side is bad and wrong.
Many have dissected what has made America the greatest hegemony in modern history. Some historical facts stand out. First is our military power. After WWII, the US was undoubtedly the preeminent global military power. When our military-industrial complex seems out of control, we should remind ourselves of the critical nature of this leg of power.
Next comes the economy. The epicenter of the industrial revolution was in the United States. No sane person would argue against this. The economic power that ensued from this was unassailable. The US was so dominant that the dollar was the obvious choice when it came time to select an international currency for energy trading. That advantage is still with us (although there are questions about how long this situation will last).
Finally, there was infrastructure. The US was the first country with an interstate road system, rural electrification, and a national communication network. Superior infrastructure aids competitive economic and military benefits, and as an added benefit, the best and brightest minds worldwide regularly choose the US to share their talents.
Any thinking person would agree that these are the significant reasons why the United States is such a great country. The rhetoric about wokism, family values, and the right to bear arms is intended to distract from the things that matter to American greatness. It’s not that people shouldn’t have opinions about these things. It’s not a good criterion for selecting leaders. It would be as if you decided not to buy your dream home because you didn’t like the color of the realtor’s tie.
If we want to make America great again, we must return to the things that matter. Having the first great modern infrastructure means we have the oldest, and some are no longer so modern. China and India, two countries on the rise, are aggressively moving away from fossil fuels. Disregarding their effects on the environment, from a pure infrastructure standpoint, there are indisputable advantages to sustainable energy sources over the next 100-200 years. These are the timeframes in which history plays out. If we want history to show that the US remained a superpower, we need to upgrade our infrastructure to align with the future. Nobody seems to understand this better than Elon Musk, who dragged the US car market, kicking and screaming, toward a sustainable transportation future. This is something that the Left scores better on.
Next, let's look at our standing economically. We are still a superpower in this regard, but China and India are not sitting still. China does not care about what some African autocrat does with the money they offer in exchange for critical natural resources. As these countries increase their manufacturing power and access to necessary resources, it is only a matter of time before the US dollar loses its international currency standing. When this happens, we will no longer be able to print money that the global community will accept at the same value. We will need to balance our budget without the ability to print money with reckless abandon. Based on the last 50 years, it should be easy to see that will leave us a shriveled hull of the economy we once were. We need to pull our manufacturing capabilities back. The Right wins here.
This brings us to our military power—the one strength where we retain our dominance. China is the only country hoping to challenge this dominance. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the South China Sea. China’s naval power there has left us with few options to defend Taiwan effectively. Our technological advantages rest on our control of Taiwan’s chip manufacturing capabilities. Some military analysts believe we may be only a few years away from this event. Time is running out to do something to stop it (if it’s even possible at this point). This takes us back to the critical need to boost our infrastructure (in this case, the ability to build our technology here). Here, the Right wins again.
If we get these three things right, we can argue about gun laws and abortion from the luxury of our well-lit, nicely appointed homes over a tasty meal. Nobody will care about these issues if we fail because they will be worried about not freezing, boiling to death, or starving. We can’t continue to rely on the wind in our sails forever. During WWII, citizens across this great country made personal sacrifices to ensure the outcome we wanted. It is time to do so again.