America is imploding under its own weight and the bitter hand of its poor leadership. Quite frankly, it seems as if the empire is falling. Stability and strength, although not entirely controlled by the chief leader, can be heavily influenced by one. Churchill in World War II gave resolve to the British. Ethiopian emperor Menelik II, alongside Empress Taytu Betul, , protected the nation from Italian colonial rule. At age 21, Mehmed II staunchly led a victory for the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople. America’s leader, our helmsman of this Great Eagle, on the other hand, threatened to destroy an entire civilization of people because of his war aims — a statement lacking any political tact, poise or understanding of the humanity of the situation at hand.
In fact, America has been steadily losing its footing of respect on the global stage. China has been rivaling the United States’ economic output for years and is making economic and diplomatic strides in places like Africa with its Belt and Road Initiative. People in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are questioning Washington, D.C.’s role as a reassuring presence in the region.
Turning to internal matters, the United States is facing disparate wealth inequalities, a severe opioid crisis, a terribly mishandled immigration system, an incarceration system rooted in slavery and, perhaps more sinister yet lulling than all of these, the arrival of a capitalist surveillance state spearheaded by companies such as Palantir Technologies. America is imploding. It is rotting, and it smells.
I believe we can provide the air freshener. We can choose values, aims, ways of thinking and practical means to help ourselves and others in our communities fight against this rot. We are the future. The billionaires are comfortable and do not care about anything but their yachts. At the end of the day, the rest of us must create our imagined realities for ourselves and our families. So, my dear readership, when the Eagle has been wounded by the hands of its bitter helmspeople, let us choose to fly and breathe life into this dying great winged one.
