Imagine a pair of shoes you have; they are your favourite, are comfortable and have served you well for a considerable period of time. You like the way they look and the way you look in them. It then becomes hard to step out of them. Yet its useful to try.
The United States of America is confronted with a situation akin to yours. It has worn the shoes of hegemony for a sustained duration; and as the bastions of power become more scattered on an increasingly diverse international spreadsheet, the US is left with nothing but a perceptible edge of strain while stepping out of a zone it has called its own for little less than a century. The US has strongly adhered to a sense of entitlement to ensure uninhibited access to key markets, energy supplies and key resources. This has changed; not the sense of entitlement to markets and recourses but their ability to ensure the same.
Those of you who believe that the US is not destined to decline would argue that at present the US consolidates all that which is befitting for any super-power. It has a notable diversity, a sense of attraction, innovation, willpower, competitiveness and so and so forth. All of this is undeniable. You may also throw light on all statistical evidence which conclusively proves that in terms of per capita GDP, technological sophistication and military prowess no other country can match the US. This is also undeniable; that is, a country may have beaten the US in a specific criterion or two among all those above mentioned, yet no country has even so much as equalled the US when all these criteria are put together. So do you happily conclude that the US gets to keep its shoes and wear them around a bit longer? If so, you are wrong.
All that makes up the US has to be put in context. The diversity that you speak of comprises largely of poor people who have migrated into the US to look for jobs. This diversity can be seen in Europe too. The diversity in the US is also a result of its soft power: that is its power of attraction. Many people go all the way to the US to study and work owing to all the enthralling opportunities quintessential to the US business model. Yet there is a growing trend to return home from the US after the completion of studies. This trend is indeed striking. Coming to manufacturing and innovation, China has assumed an enviable role of a world-factory which has overtaken the US in terms of attracting foreign direct manufacturing investment, low production costs, vast supply of labour and preferential tax treatment of foreign investors. China has created a lucrative environment for business and has stretched its arms in all major sectors. Topping all this, the US is facing some inherent problems which are of a grave and serious nature. Housing prices and the cost of real estate has fallen by a record low 33%, unemployment stands at 9.1% which is higher than the time period of the Great Depression in the 1930s, one in six people live on food stamps (scheme by which the government ensure that its citizens have enough to eat), it has a deficit of Greek-style proportions and probably the most worrisome bit of it all is that there is a policy paralysis in the Washington. President Obama did all that he could in his previous term which did not go a long way in ameliorating the problems at hand, which is why most critics believe that there is no way to reverse the trend.
The experience of the British and Roman empires has shown us that it is hard to stop while the rot has set in. And as it were in Britain and Rome, you will see in the US some warning signs: a military overstretch, a hollowed out economy with a gargantuan fiscal deficit, a widening gap between rich and poor, people using debt to live beyond their means (just as their government) and government policies that just dont work. Coupled with all of this is a stark cultural decadence where more and more Americans are becoming obese, using more than they have or can have, wasteful consumption, using energy way above the world-average and violent crime. Every empire nearing its decline goes through stages of dissent, discord and denial; followed by the growth of one or more challengers. Spain was confronted by Britain, Britain was confronted by America and today America is confronted by China and many others with collaborative efforts.
Say you are convinced or partly so that the US is in fact losing its political and economic clout; you come to exploring the multifarious reasons that have forced the US to come to this. Well, primary among these is a bloated defence budget; the US produces weapons it cannot use, and fights wars it cannot win. American hegemony has come with a price of healthcare, education and safety for its people. The US bound to lead attitude is bound to become a jarring misnomer in the near future when it simply will not be able to afford waging wars and using threats to have it its way. American endeavours in Iraq and Afghanistan and several regions where it has a substantive interest have spearheaded the US economic decline and it has consequently an object of dire criticism owing to human rights violations in all these places. Hence, the sense of entitlement and role-play of Good Samaritan that comes along with has to change. It is important to note that in 1949 George Kennan, a member of US State Department Policy Planning Staff termed the Communist Revolution in China as a loss of China. Later rung the bells of further concern over the loss of Latin-America, loss of Europe and most recently the loss of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Kuwait, all these statements are based on a fallacious premise that the US owned these countries and anything that would lead to the loss of effective control in these territories would seem a loss. These statements go a long away further ahead than when one simply describes the loss of an ally or partner.
The issues raised bring to our attention some difficult questions. Can the US continue with the leader of nations demeanour and implement socio-economic policies and programmes which will address the malaise it is facing? Why has the world waited for the US economic inability to wage wars overseas than trying to end all its illegitimate and illegal actions with immediate effect? And is a world where power is scattered and equitable more desirable than what we have seen in the past? Arent we headed that way anyway? Notwithstanding all of the above, it is evident and hopefully you are satisfied too that the US is in the midst of its own epilogue, where its story when started was indeed captivating and enduring but now has reached its close for good.