Tattered Liberty [still as fascinating as it is disturbing]

National Review Online ^ | March 23, 2010 | Mark Steyn

[starczar66]

"...On its present course, as Dennis Prager put it, America “will be a large Sweden, and just as influential as the smaller one.”

And that’s the optimistic scenario — because the only reason Sweden can be Sweden and Germany Germany and France France is that America is America. Who will cushion America’s decline as America cushioned Europe’s?"

[jiggyboy]

Who will cushion America’s decline as America cushioned Europe’s?

"If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth." - Ronald Reagan, October 27, 1964

[FlingWingFlyer]

The liberals’ uneducated minds failed them when they thought we could still continue to have exactly the same America with the same high standard of living and still become a communist state. Having a college diploma hanging on the wall doesn’t mean you’re smart, it means you paid your tuition fees.

[lonestar67]

I love Mark Steyn and I love this endlessly fascinating question about American decline.

I still believe that that it will take decades for america to lose hegemony.

The arguments for decline are self defeating as they progress.

911 was its own wake up call against decline.

There will be more and more wake up calls. Americans will inevitably rally to those calls.

We actually rolled back a tremendous amount of Hegmony erosion from the Vietnam and Mogadishu era. Statist rivals are now scratching their heads. From monrovia to Kabul to Bagdad and Tripoli. The Anti Americans have never been less sure of what they can get away with.

Certainly, the current President is a brazen green light for more preparations and perhaps actions but it seems doubtful that any statist rivals seriously believe that the pendulum would not swing to the “war mongers” as it has time and time again in places such as Israel, South Korea, and America.

Oddly, there is a part of me that wants to see this Anti American stench ride a bit longer so the backlash might be more lasting and permanent. This stupidity has been tried so many times and temporarily cured so many times.

I think the next round will involve even more serious annihilations than the war on terror. We have killed thousands and lost thousands in the current round. Our military and its annual spending remain exponentially higher than our nearest rivals. We are a colossal Goliath. David’s stones reach our ankles.

Much more time is needed for any plausibility to the end of American hegemony.

I like how he realizes that China has no real shot.

[mmercier]

steyn is the greatest.

suicide is a sin.

would somebody please shoot me...?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

When Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, did anyone realize that the Western empire had come to an end?

[luvbach1]

I still believe that that it will take decades for America to lose hegemony.

Just as it takes thousands of darts to fell an elephant and the strictures of many tiny ropes to bind a Gulliver. But the cumulative effect eventually succeeds.

[BigBobber]

I have a similar world view. Unfortunately, many people, especially Muslims, are going to die in the coming world war that is needed to make the adjustments you suggest.

The Iraq and Afghanistan invasions were Bush’s attempt to fight a limited war, with minimal civilian casualties, to contain the jihadis and state-sponsored terrorism. Without taking out Iran and the radical elements in Pakistan, the success we have had so far will be short lived. Bush just didn’t have the political capital from 9/11 to finish the job. It’s a problem for a future president.

Meanwhile, conflicts between Civilization and Islam in places like Europe, Africa, India, and the Philippines are going to come to a head as the Islamists become bolder and the local populations become fed up. Armed clashes will be the result.

This is all going to trigger a major war in Asia, perhaps spilling into Europe. Energy resources and “lebensraum” will be the objective for the slumbering population giants India and China. Russia and Muslim southeast Asia will be in the cross hairs, one for it’s oil and sunlight, the other for its vast landmass.

Every time I hear provocative comments coming from the Muslim countries against the West I have to wonder if they they know the powder keg they are sitting on? The next war is not going to use pin point laser bombs and drones targeting single buildings. Entire cities are going to be leveled and societies will crumble. Hundreds of millions will die.

I just hope the West will survive to pick up the pieces.