Steve Yetiv writes in the Christian Science Monitor that “bolstering America makes far more sense for world security in the 21st century than hoping for its decline or undermining it.” From the Middle East to Asia and from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to international economics, the United States helps keep the world safe and prosperous. “Rather than jeering, the rest of the world should consider just how much the US does, and step up support for it. The security of the world is at stake.” He argues that no one can take America’s place.
But is the United States even in decline? Edward Lawrence, an assistant editor at the National Interest, writes in RealClearWorld that the “chorus of declinists has returned.” He says that many are now arguing that “Beijing’s star rises as Washington’s falls” and the “unipolar moment is over, and Americans must learn to live within their means and adapt to a new international pecking order where theirs is one voice among many, instead of the loudest and most important.” But, he believes that “many of those arguing that America is in decline now are the same ones who did so thirty years ago. They have made a livelihood out of telling America’s misfortune. Let’s give them a few more decades.”
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