Globalization vs Tribal Nationalism

This week's topic was my suggestion. It is what I believe to be one of the 2 or 3 most important topics on the table and how we choose to address this issue could well determine if we survive long term or not.

I have discussed the tribalism that dominates our politics many times herein. Some of  you may recall what I termed the perfect storm that drove the issue - our electing a black man president and immediately choosing Donald Trump as his successor. Obama was called a traitor and racist by the Trump crowd and Trump the same by the Obama people. The net result - the tribal split we are "enjoying" today - a political divide so deeply entrenched there appears to be no end in sight.

Suddenly from seemingly nowhere came the Pandemic caused by a corona virus and the resulting Covid-19 that it caused, infecting through 7/20/2020 almost 15.5 million people, killing  over 630 thousand (4.1% of those infected) and an an upside survival rate of nearly 9.5 million (nearly 61%).Those concerned about the place of the USA in the world should take heart as we are the most infected - over 4 million, our death rate (over 140 thousand) stands at 3.6% (under the world rate of 4.1%) and our survival rate, well under the world average 61%, stands at 47.2%. No more numbers - I promise.

Our other stressor is the cultural revolution being revisited by our younger, politically active crowd. They are joined by few of us oldsters left over from the sixties that made huge inroads in racism but left the job undone. This time the resistance is dug in well but standing on the shoulders of the Confederate slave owning traitors will not serve them well.

As the culture is shifting internally in the USA the old white men in power are watching their power slip away to a multiracial, multicultured younger generation. And then there is the new International order lead by China, India, Turkey, and the like who are clamoring for their  place at the world table. No longer is the US looked upon as the leader automatically. Enter President Trump and our image has declined further as we amassed record debt with China and China forged alliances with countries known for not being fans of the USA.  Couple that with the fact that NOBODY plays the long game better or even as ell as China, China is a nuclear power and a newly invigorated Russia is rattling their sabers again leaves us with too many balls to juggle. Those poor old white men in the US are losing power on the world stage too.

The Pandemic is making it clear that cooperating with these other countries makes much more sense than going it alone. Beyond the Pandemic,  it behooves us to be on the good side of India as she stretches her legs, flexes her muscles and grows into a nuclear power to be reckoned with while she continues her struggles with her neighbor Pakistan. Pakistan is perhaps the most unstable of the nuclear countries but an emerging power in her own right.

Our tribal nationalism is far too well entrenched for it to be discounted and the newly emerging powers on the world stage are in the same boat. India has issues with another neighbor - China, and the Arab world is in serious jeopardy with the decline in value of their primary income generator - oil. Old alliances that have served us well since WWII may be at their sell by date. The side we pick as the new world order takes root will determine our future.

Please understand that we are not losing our power for any reason other than we have been an effective leader for decades and have shown how to win friends and influence people. Some leaders listened and nations are carving out a larger piece of the pie for themselves. Call it evolution. Rather than stick our heads in the sand and collapse upon ourselves, we need to be aggressively leading the marathon to the new world order, all the way reminding ourselves that China and India - especially China - are masters of the long game. The one thing remaining unsaid is that the driver of the new world order will be the large middle class the US and its allies have developed since WWII.

That's my quick shack take on things as I see them. Be sure to see what my compatriots in the blogging group think by checking out their blogs at  Sanjana, Padmum, Raju,  Conrad, & Ramana.

See ya'll next week, same shack time and same shack channel.