Good to Be King?
September 18, 2003
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, America has enjoyed the mantle of world's only Superpower. Or perhaps "enjoyed" isn't quite the word. "It's good to be king," the saying goes, but so far it hasn't been all that good.
After over a decade as the world's only Superpower, America is now
pretty well stuck in its "King of the World" role. This is supposed to be a
good thing. Throughout history we see no end of men, and some women,
willing to risk everything, undergo the most horrific hardships, murder
their fathers and marry their mothers -- all to be king. "It's good to be
king," the song and the saying go. And yet, this same history is strewn
with unhappy kings. Often, those who worked hardest to get the power were
the most miserable in its harness.
Americans have been busy lately discovering the full burden of this
yoke. Perhaps we fancied ourselves reclining in luxury, being fed peeled
grapes by young lovelies, with only an occasional "Off with his head!" to
disturb our royal repose. Instead, we await the next Code Orange terror
alert while counting the body bags arriving from distant frontiers of the
empire.
Poor George Washington. Like so many of the Founders, he was wary of
"foreign entanglements." "Empire" was for the Old World. "America" would
stop at the Appalachians. Or Louisiana ... plus whatever we might get from
Mexico. Surely restricted to the "contiguous United States." OK. Maybe out
to Hawaii. Or north to Alaska. The Spanish Empire was second-hand, but made
for some good military bases and singles resorts. Of course, after World
War II, we needed military bases and singles resorts virtually everywhere.
Ultimately, even with dozens of stealthy nuclear submarines prowling
the ocean depths, each one capable of wrecking the planet, the empire still
wasn't sufficiently extensive and secure to sell enough Coca-Cola to
placate the stockholders. Even when we finally outspent the communist
barbarians and became King of the World ... well, it just hasn't been so
good.
There have only been two other such eras in history, the "Pax Romana,"
or "Roman Peace," and the "Pax Britannia," when nobody could match the
Royal Navy. But, like "Pax Americana," these eras were often short on both
peace and the peeled grapes. We've now got outposts way out in Kabul and
Baghdad keeping an eye on the latest "barbarians" and the oil for our
thousand-horse chariots. We've got a huge army. We've got Britney Spears.
And yet, as The Bard said, "uneasy sleeps the head that wears a crown."
We take pride in our innovative civilization. We should be able to get
around these ancient stumbling blocks. The United Nations is proof that
we've at least thought about it, despite our actions. Perhaps the problem
lies in a democracy playing king. The contradiction has not failed notice
by the rest of the world. The serfs and lesser nobility have always envied
and often hated the royals, but the rank hypocrisy of Pax Americana is
truly toxic. Maybe we should think again about sharing some power.
For too many of us, the mere suggestion conjures visions of black
helicopters full of UN bureaucrats bent on world government. Of course, all
this angst overlooks the fact that we've already established just such a
creature. We call it "The Economy"; the ace that trumps even the king.
From the Caesars to George Washington, no one imagined that one day
citizens would become "consumers." The Economy constitutes world government
whose supra-national institutions wield an up-close and personal power
"24/7," literally around the globe. For us moderns, this world government
is a forest we can't see for our particular tree: our job. We're busy
getting up early, driving two hours each way to a ten-hour job on which we
are dependent for everything from health care to our cosmic identity:
"What do you do?" equalling "Who are you?" Anyone who's been unemployed
knows all about power and not having any -- "My kingdom for an
appendectomy!"
Traditional power elites around the throne are merely hired bit
players compared to the abiding economic autocracy that really impacts
human affairs. Our "representatives" are literally bought and sold by their
"campaign contributors." Our so-called free press is just another cog in
the profit machinery. No conspiracies needed. Just the perennial bottom
line ramped into high gear by high technology. Capitalism's "invisible
hand" does the rest. Even to the king.
But the World Bank, IMF, et al, did not evolve under the bushmen of
the Australian outback. We princes of Western European civilization put
this system together, and we're ultimately responsible for it, despite our
four-hour commutes and lapses into moral coma.
Having busted many a gut to establish Pax Americana, we need to get
some modicum of actual "peace" and some genuine "Americana" in the form of
truth, justice, representative government. Difficult to believe today,
America was once actually beloved around the world for these qualities.
With a little imagination and humility, we could still win admiration,
cooperation and some genuine respect. Lacking such precious-if-intangible
accouterments, we're finding it just ain't so good to be king.
As Lao Tzu put it, "When the Master governs, the people are hardly
aware that he exists. Next best is a leader who is loved. Next, one who is
feared. The worst is one who is despised."
A futurist and commentator, Travis has been published nationally and internationally since 1978.
Copyright © 2003, Travis Charbeneau, All Rights Reserved.
travchar@mindspring.com
http://www.richmonder.com/charbeneau
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