American Identity When the Empire is Gone

The Editors of Christian Century make an interesting observation here. As many have argued, the days of American domination are numbered. China finances our debt and is on the way to being the world's most powerful economy. Our own economy is on the decline and as Robert Reich has argued, it is hard to see how it can thrive when wealth is so concentrated in the hands of a minority. Although politicians will claim that America must be restored to world leadership, the day will come when those words will be recognized as hollow. The U.S. will be just another significant country, but not plausibly the world leader. The Editors at Christian Century argue that the U.S. will then need to settle on a new identity just as Britain did after the fall of its empire. They argue that religion, specifically Christianity, should play a role in defining that identity. It is hard to speculate on what that new identity will be, but it is obvious that the path to getting there will be filled with denial and a difficult transition. And, it seems to me that if the U.S. realizes it can no longer play world imperialist to shore up its economy or world policeman in a counterproductive effort to frighten terrorists, that it would become a better world citizen.