Crossroads

A year ago, I was asked to write an international relations article about China, a country I had lived in for a year and had taken a serious interest in. I wrote about China's human rights abuses and relative gains, about China's one-party government that had done so much bad and recently so much good for its people, about China's crackdown on internet usage, about jailings and abuse of dissidents, and I came to the conclusion that the paradoxical country was at a crossroads. I don't rescind that idea. But I've been thinking lately, and I think I was missing the point to even write about China's crossroads in the first place. China is the hype now, but oftentimes hype supersedes substance. My point isn't to belittle or deny China's, India's or any other country's rise or issues. My point is to say that the ball still rests firmly in America's court, and I think it is America who is at a crossroads.

It's simple human nature to assume the future will be similar to today, yesterday and for as long as we can remember from looking at pictures in our photo albums and from hearing stories that our grandparents told. Many things we've faced as a nation and as a world, we have overcome. Accomplishments like winning the Cold War and landing men on the moon, and conflicts like World War II helped us get to where we are today, propelling hope for this still imperfect world that there is room for opportunity, awareness and maturity. Yet success from these accomplishments; walking on the moon, defeating Communism, halting Nazi Germany and imperial Japan of the notable many, these successes serve more today as drying leaves on a majestic ivy that once grew much fuller. Like the caretaker who himself grows old after tending the ivy for so many years, America has forgotten what fortitude it took to accomplish such great things, and how commitment, determination and responsibility should be more than campaign speech punch-lines.

This is not a "good ol' times" article. I believe the future will be better than it is now. Society is not in decay; the world is not in decline; humans have similar values as they did 100 years ago, just with different jargon and manner of expression. Family and friends are still dear to most. However, it is up to Americans as to who will lead this better future, and this rests on Americans' abilities to realize that not all good things come easily.

In the vacuum of power after the Cold War, America was and still is the world's sole superpower. Yet without a legitimate check on its ability to wage war or mediate conflict, America has been a free spirit, especially in the years since 9/11 when the president was afforded much political capital to use as he saw fit. Before 9/11, during the massive boom (and eventual bust) of the 1990s stock market and economy, pessimism was defined as not making as much profit as the guy next door. Yet since 9/11, America has been grounded in a bulge of genuine pessimism; about terrorism, the replacement of America as a superpower, Iraq, illegal immigrants, gays and culture. While troublesome some of these topics may be (and how unnerving it is that some even made the list), they are not America's greatest challenge today. Terrorism and Iraq can be overcome. The real challenge is the challenge of finding good leaders once again.

It is America's responsibility to lead the world. Yet in America, we can't find leaders to lead ourselves. What do I mean by that? I mean that many leaders are gone, replaced by politicians. The consummate "politician" has always been a favorite insult by pundits from both the left and the right, but it's important to make a distinction because today a legitimate one can be made. A politician, if we are to judge politicians by the last six years of congress, is someone who engages in politics not to lead but to win. A leader is someone who ignores partisanship in the name of his people and country. Democrats gave a big hoorah when they won the recent congressional elections, but that hoorah wasn't because they actually had done anything; it was because they had won an election. This gerrymandering, CNN-watching "sportsification" (yes, I made that word up) of politics is embarrassing. Karl Rove may not be as evil as a man as he is made out to be; instead, he filled a terrible role (and did his job well), a role that had been created by a system hell-bent on winning elections instead of actually leading people.

Politicians have forgotten that America is an idea. It is an idea that encourages hard work and innovation, while simultaneously taking in those who need help the most. America is not a nanny state, but we must accept immigrants who work hard to make their children's lives better. Not bothering with arguments to the contrary, it is simply in America's benefit to accept people who will live a lifetime of indebtedness to a country that didn't care who they were, what they looked like or how they lived their lives as long as they worked hard and improved their own lives while allowing others to do the same. It is also in America's benefit to tackle global warming - which could dramatically change in unknown ways the only place we live - and to solve the Palestine/Israel crisis, an excuse for terrorists worldwide and an open wound that can bridge the gap between the West and the Middle East. These are the real issues of today and tomorrow.

If we as Americans are to solve the real problems of tomorrow; global warming, Palestine and Israel and immigration; we need real leaders. No more partisans, no more "left-wingers" or "right-wingers." Liberals who have little understanding of economic issues, and who either fail to realize or blatantly ignore the serious environmental and social consequences of their radical ideas on points like immediately pulling troops from Iraq or massive taxes on corporations are both a distraction and a danger. I am equally terrified of those on the other end; hypocritical conservatives who cannot compromise, who rationalize fuzzy economics and see the political sphere as a winners' circle (see Bob Ney, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Randy Cunningham, Grover Norquist et al), and even more hypocritical religious folk (Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Rick Santorum) who care more about regulating my life and raising money for the hypocritical conservatives than they do about addressing poverty.

We can only hope that the democrats now running both arms of congress will stop cheering for themselves and address real issues. Don't follow Republicans by pandering to voters, and start leading the voters. Address the real issues like global warming, Israel and Palestine and immigration. Continue to combat terrorism, but acknowledge you can't defeat a strategy. These tenets are they keys to success in the future.

Coming full-circle, Americans should stop worrying so much about China and start worrying about America. China will specialize in what it's good at and the hype won't be for naught. China's government recently declared its goals were to have a harmonious society and civil stability. China will have that, China's economy will be prosperous and stable, and China will be successful. But America needs to re-specialize in what it's good at. Inspiring hope and creativity, innovation and adaptiveness. Americans must continue to work hard, but also must acknowledge that as our fathers and grandfathers worked for us, we must work hard for our children. Nothing can be taken for granted, and certainly nothing is owed to us. In short, America needs to re-specialize in being a leader. The ball is in America's court.