A recurring theme in the wake of the G-20 summit in Germany last week is that the US is “surrendering its leadership position in the world–and risking isolation”. A number of foreign news services aired footage of President Trump wandering around the summit halls with no one wanting to come talk to him or stand with him for pictures. European leaders took veiled shots at us, inferring that somehow they were going to “step into the void and take the lead on important issues facing the planet”.
There is a certain irony to all of this concern and consternation about the US breaking away from the direction that some of its allies want to go. For decades those same countries have complained about having to operate in the shadow of the United States. Liberals in those nations have long decried their leaders playing second fiddle to Presidents who set the “global agenda”. Nobody every accused Helmut Kohl or Francois Mitterand of “putting the world on the brink of nuclear war”–it was always Ronald Reagan who was “blamed” for that.
While they may talk about taking the lead, European and Asian leaders really don’t want that responsibility. Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Theresa May, Justin Trudeau and all of their Socialist predecessors built very comfortable lives standing underneath the American umbrella. And they know that if they actually did try to “set the direction for the world” that it will result in the giant disasters that preceded the “American Century”.
Merkel and Macron know that they have no chance to contain Russia. Thanks the military commitment of the US, Germany and France have dedicated their resources to single-payer, national health care systems–which aren’t going to intimidate Vladimir Putin in the slightest. The rest of Europe has no intention of taking on militant Islam or quelling the fighting in the countries that are leading to the mass exodus of refugees to the Continent–because they are too preoccupied with free daycare and “basic incomes” to commit anything more to humanitarian disasters elsewhere. Japan has no ability to keep North Korea in check. And we don’t have time here to go into the medical and technological advancements that US companies develop in our free market system–unencumbered by the types of regulation and government involvement seen in the rest of the world.
So, to the “rest of the world” we should say if you don’t want to continue to enjoy the protection and aid of the United States–because you don’t agree with the politics or the guy running the show–go off on your own with neither the resources or the might to survive. Don’t worry, because we will still be here–ready to bail you out for the fourth time in the last 100 years.
