In the prologue to his 1987 book of essays, Hidden History: Exploring Our Secret Past, historian Daniel Boorstin wrote about âthe Fertile Vergeâ, a place where something and something else, something unexplored, meet.
A verge is like a frontier region, a place where ecosystems, or ideas, mingle. Verges between land and sea, between civilization and wilderness, between state and national governments, between city and countryside – all are a part of the American experience. Boorstin said that the movement westward by colonists into the American continent was a verge between European civilization and the culture of the American Indians.
America is clearly now on the verge of something new, possibly a big change in the world order. The old rules are broken. New states may emerge out of conflict in the Africa and the Middle East. Our old allies see their future drifting away from ours. The old order is rapidly disintegrating. But is there a new order that will replace it? Will it happen only in America, or will it be a global change?
Consider the following about America:
⢠In August, the Wall Street Journal reported on an FBI database that contains a file on one in three adults, or 77.7 million Americans.
⢠Our schools arenât succeeding,
⢠Our infrastructure is crumbling,
⢠American corporations are heading for the exits (to tax havens).
⢠45 Million Americans live in poverty, and that number hasnât changed since 2010.
We are taking on some of the trappings of a police state. And there is no reason to suppose that the FBIâs (and the NSAâs) increased sophistication in domestic spying, and data storage and retrieval will do anything but make that trend more efficient, and penalties more severe and long-lasting. That is not a prescription for maintaining a united Homeland.
Our coffers are shrinking, yet we march off to one risky war after another, with all of those billions going where, and for what? Our Republic now seems to want only compliant workers and consumers. All others need not apply.
Last bit of history; the Principate, (27 BC â 284 AD) was the first stage of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire succeeded the Roman Republic. The Principate was characterized by a concerted effort by its Emperors to preserve the illusion of the continuance of the Roman Republic. And just like the Principate, the illusion of the American Republic is what now remains.
The order of things that underpinned our era is in crisis. Part of peoplesâ concern is the sense that the old order isnât holding, but weâre not quite yet able to see the terms of any new order, one that may be based on different states, different global powers, or on different principles.
So, whatâs next for America? A nation founded explicitly on an idea of individual freedoms and representative governance, the US has always identified its success with the spread of liberty and democracy. Today, those very rights are threatened here at home.
The post-WWII bipolar world ended when the USSR collapsed under their own weight. That brought about a different world order, a uni-polar era, with the US as the sole superpower, possessing the only military strong enough to deter any other potential rival from engaging in aggressive war.
Even that order is ending. We are on the frontier of something completely new in global politics in addition to change in our domestic society. Consider what is happening around the globe:
⢠Our people see whatâs happening in Ukraine; whatâs happening in Syria, with what Assad has wrought on his own people; in Iraq, where Sunni, Shia and Kurd fail to compromise, even in the face of invasion; the war between Israel and Gaza; the challenge of ISIS.
⢠Libya is in civil war, Pakistan is close to one, and Afghanistan’s democracy may be on the verge of paralysis. Egypt again has a military-dominated government.
⢠Add to these troubles the relationship between the US and China, that bounces between pledges of cooperation and public recrimination.
In Africa and the Middle East, the 21st Century has collided with the 8th Century, and the 8th Century is armed with 21st Century weaponry, so it is winning on the ground. An entirely new paradigm for deciding our priorities is required.
What will that new paradigm be? The most important questions to ask are – what is in the best interest of our country?
⢠What do we seek to prevent, no matter how it happens, and if necessary, alone?
⢠What do we seek to achieve, even if not supported by a multilateral effort?
⢠What do we seek to achieve, or prevent, only if supported by an alliance?
⢠In what should we not engage, even if urged on by a âresponsibility to protectâ, or by a multilateral group or alliance?”
All of our intermediating of trouble in the world has weakened us. Continuing to do so will only hasten our eclipse as the indispensable power. Our role in the world depends on a strong economy and few structural/societal problems at home. Shouldnât taking care of the Homeland be our primary concern?
We may feel that a new âFertile Vergeâ is almost upon us, but no one knows yet what it will be, or if we will make it across to the other side.
Or, if crossing to the other side will be better for America.
We have spent much of the last 70 years trying to hold back history. History is messy, but so are attempts to hold it back – as we should have learned by now.
If the history is close by, perhaps we need to intervene, but in the middle east, maybe not so much.
Yes, the Saudis have a lot to worry about in their neighborhood. But we can’t help them. Nor can we save Pakistan from itself.