Brand America: Gradual rusting of a superpower

The rise of radical right-wing within the Republicans poses the next big challenge

December 25, 1990. The news feeder starts buzzing with activity. The Soviet Union has collapsed. Alert: USSR is dead. RIP: The death was slow and painful.

While the United States of America stood strong, five decades of extensive investment in espionage, proxy wars and military had eaten into the Soviet Empire which came crashing down like a pack of cards.

Racing ahead as the only superpower, the victory of American democracy, capitalism and liberal culture — together what Francis Fukuyama defined as ‘brand America’ — helped the US enjoy an unquestionable hegemony. The American way became the envy of every eye and most nations wanted to the share the same destiny.

But in the last few years, that American brand has been badly tarnished.The story of America’s free fall starts from the Iraq war. September 11 attacks occurred and President George W Bush blamed a man named Saddam Hussein miles away in the desert. The President launched a quest to destroy his WMD arsenal and establish a rule of democracy. No weapons were found, the use of unparallel force demolished Iraq and within no time the war had spilled over to Afghanistan as the global ‘War on Terror’.
Putting serious questions on America’s export of democracy, people asked if the US had any right to moral police, ramming down governments and laying nations to ruins in its democracy-for-all mission impossible? The hypocrisy is more glaring when America lectures the world about equality while its own citizens in Washington DC, the country’s capital, still do not have voting rights.

The lies were exposed, the Islamic world turned anti-America and the torture camps became a big blot on US’ human rights record. Add to this, the financial meltdown further shook the confidence in brand America. While other models like China and India continued to prosper, America’s unchecked raw capitalism was bleeding the country.
Embarrassed and insulted, the Americans voted for Barack Obama who promised to reverse Bush policies, end the unnecessary wars and put America back to its rightful place. Obama’s mantra of ‘Yes We Can’ dared many Americans to dream once again of prosperity and success. But two years have come and gone and that pursuit of happiness has become a never-ending chase.

Last year, the US economy grew at a painful rate of 1.7 per cent. Unemployment is hovering at the troubling 9.6 per cent and poverty has touched a 15-year high. As the latest Census Bureau figures revealed, every seventh person in America is now poor.
Equally worse in times like these, is to be run by a cash-strapped government, especially when the cracks start to show on the surface. As the ‘New York Times’ reported, “Colorado Springs in its desperate attempt to save money is turning off a third of its streetlights. Many state governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain and worse, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country!”

Disappointment has become synonymous with Obama’s administration and it was clearer than ever when a black woman named Velma Hart gave the President a piece of her mind at a meeting in Washington last month.

“I’m a mother. I’m a wife. I’m one of your middle-class Americans. And quite frankly, I’m exhausted,” said an impassioned Velma. “I’m exhausted of defending you, your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.”

Deterioration
Of course, a blessed silver-tongue like Obama did manage to fight the ambush, but Velma’s admonishment of the President was like an official seal on what everyone had been feeling about him lately. Abandoning his own promise of flipping Bush policies by 180 degrees, Obama chose to expand in the same direction and some of the concerns have actually escalated under his administration. On assuming office, Obama tripled US involvement in Afghanistan, but as WikiLeaks documents show the war is still a disaster, the government there still corrupt and the fear of losing a nuclear-armed Pakistan is now greater than ever. The President has been cautioned about misplaced priorities and overinvestment in military, especially at a time when the nation is burdened under a $13.1 trillion debt and a deteriorating education system, which too, is in need of a serious overhaul. Once the world leader in the number of students with college degrees, the US’ position has dropped to 12th.

Further, Obama’s foreign policies have played a catalyst role in shrinking US’ sphere of influence in international arena. His Af-Pak strategy of elevating Islamabad over New Delhi has not gone down well for Indo-US ties. The political contours that have set in over Turkey are unmistakable signs of a traditional ally breaking from a good-for-nothing US friendship and rediscovering itself by aligning with the Arab League. Iran is unperturbed by sanctions on its nuclear programme and the resilient Chinese are out of control defying US threats to revaluate its currency.

Inheriting a brand America whose two pillars — democracy and capitalism — were weakened by wars and a big hole in the balance sheet, it was always an uphill task for Obama. But his failure to inspire any confidence in his leadership, now threatens to pull down that last pillar.

In mid-term elections, the Republican Party is set for major gains thanks to a wave of anti-Obama anger that has swept the country. But what is troubling is that this anger has fuelled the rise of some radical right-wing elements within the Republicans called the Tea Party, which poses the next big challenge to brand America. A political, far right, populist movement, it is steering realistic fear of America’s economic, social and cultural breakdown to a dangerous road.

Picture this: Christine O’Donnell is the Tea Party movements’ poster girl who attracts media almost every time she opens her mouth. An ultra-right conservative and favourite of Sarah Palin, she is a staunch anti-abortionist, holds extreme views on chastity in women and is running as Republican nominee from Delaware. Confessed of dabbling in witchcraft in her past, Christine has publicly questioned the reliability of carbon dating, proclaimed Darwin’s theory of evolution as a ‘myth’ and advocates teaching creationism in schools, a concept that has become associated with Christian fundamentalism. Other Tea Partiers are no less amusing.

Once in the Congress, the pro-war Tea Partiers will tear into Obama’s healthcare reform plan, oppose government intervention and will move to make Bush era tax cuts permanent. In short, they will work to bring back all policies that in the first place sparked the unsustainable consumption binge resulting in the meltdown.

But there is an even greater cost America will have to pay once Congress seats fall in the hands of ultra-right conservatives like Christine. For years, America’s power lay not only in its tanks and dollars, but also in its liberal values and culture that became a benchmark for developed societies and which nations emulated. It was this last pillar of brand America that made it appealing. But can that attraction be sustained if America exported an extremist culture? Will the US also head Europe’s way, where the far-right parties have once again gripped the people’s imagination?

As you are ferried to the Liberty Island in New York, America’s iconic symbol the great Statue of Liberty greets you. The sheer size weighs a burden on you and you can’t help admire the work. But as you move closer, you realise, under layers of paint, the old model is rusting away. Maybe it is time for some reconstruction to brand America.
Or the day America dies, we ought to put this famous quote by Abraham Lincoln on her tombstone: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”