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back in 2009 about the coming of a so called "post America" world and in his comments articulated something about our diversity that ought to be a tremendous guide to the GOP for why it should be rushing to embrace America's diversity instead of being hell bent to keep it at arm's length. Barnet makes it clear that as the creator of globalization's rule sets, we have put an American stamp on the planet and our diversity is among our greatest strengths in creating the next American century.
"I believe this is still a most "American" world because we have purposefully shaped globalization's rise to be modeled on the American experience of states uniting, economies integrating, networks growing, mass media content flowing freely, and religions competing peacefully with one another for adherents.
Do I pretend the entire world has reached these same levels of peaceful integration? No, I do not. Do I pretend that if the world follows in these footsteps, the regions of the world will all become carbon copies of the United States? That would be foolish in the extreme. I state merely that America has the longest experience as the world's first multinational political and economic and security union, meaning we have the longest experience in creating all the rules, institutions, regulations, procedures, etc. that make such deep connectivity possible among our 50 member states--all of whom has distinct identities and all of whom feature significant and growing non-European populations.
So even when we speak of a post-American world, as Zakaria does, I find this amusing. I definitely see a post-Caucasian world, but that is hardly a post-American one--even in America! Already our biggest cities see European descendants no longer constituting a majority. This is also true for our biggest state, California. It is also true for our population under the age of five--the truest indicator of our future. So if we're talking about a world that intermixes all the world's populations, is there a better example of this phenomenon on the planet than the United States? And if this is the case, do you not recognize that we have a tremendous asset in our diversity? Not just in the people we attract from all over the world but also in the rules we have created to make that diversity possible and profitable and harmonious?"
