The great American century has passed. America is no longer the greatest country in the world. No one can doubt her dominant position in world affairs. However,America’s dominance was not on her technological breakthrough and superiority.
There is nothing America has achieved that other nations have not. Not even in space exploration or nuclear weapons. Vietnam was the proof that American was not the greatest military power on earth. Or that Americans fight better than other nations and peoples.American exceptionalism is a ruse. A fiction .Yes, all oppressed peoples of the world including Nigerians have looked up to America for salvation, not because of her military strength but because of the allure and attraction of democracy.
Yes, America has presented herself for good reasons, as the home of the free and the brave. Brave people who are ready and willing to defend freedom every where. America intervention during the Second World War, made the defeat of fascism possible and largely validated that claim. But the Soviets fought harder and paid perhaps the greatest sacrifice in human lives.America has triumphed because it was seen as a home for all. I dare say, even that can be contested. It never was. It is not now even with the election of Barack Obama. America’s decline is self-evident. It is self evident truth that it has the largest population of prisoners in the world. It is self- evident truth that the great American economy is driven largely by huge debts of historical proportions and unrestrained corruption of their corporations. It is self-evident that America is an unequal society, with deep racial hatred and unequal citizenship. It is now self evident that the rule of law in America was and is a fraudulent claim. One can say more. That America is in decline is now also self-evident.
However,America’s decline is reversible. It cannot be halted under the hate driven administration of Donald J Trump.For America to be great again, a post-Trump America must recalibrate the democratic foundation of the country to restore the American dream and the finest ideals of democracy.
America must re-engage the world by embracing the multilateral institutions that have sustained world peace since the end of the second world war,and respect other nations and cultures irrespective of size and weight of those nations. America must spend less on the military-industrial complex,abandon its belligerent foreign policy and close most, if not all of her military bases abroad. Her economy can no longer sustain its foreign military adventures. America must reform the criminal justice system including the prisons and law enforcement, which is, at present, terribly militarized and cruel.Under the reform,most prisoners especially African Americans and other minorities, should be released.
America should also amend the constitution to regulate the possession of firearms and the type of weapons that private citizens may carry. The prevailing culture of violence which drives Hollywood must be addressed. To make America great again and attractive, America must address the AFRICAN-AMERICA PROBLEM. In other words,the legacy of slavery. The problem is clear and visible even to the blind.America can never really be a great country as long as African Americans are not free. Right now China is asking for a place at the top of the table. Why not?Who would miss American leadership? Not me.
NB: Abdul Oroh, is a former member of the House of Representatives , who served as Commissioner for Information, and later, Agriculture in Edo State. A former Executive director of Civil Liberties Organization(CLO), lawyer and journalist, Oroh is a member of The New Diplomat’s Advisory Board.
