E.3 Draft

[axel .d]

This is it
Since the beginning of civilization there has always been the need
for a leader in the world. For any group of people, any region or any
country there is the need for a leader; the need for someone to
direct, to enforce regulations, to control directly or indirectly the
way of living. Through time there have been many groups of people who
have created what is considered Empires. Such Empires have not been
able to preserve themselves, due to many factors. One of the main
factors is remarked by Cullen Murphy in his 2007, Are we Rome? As
complexity. According to Murphy, the Roman Empire expanded beyond its
abilities to manage. Murphy insists that the US is following the
same steps taken by Romans who expanded military, and economically and
if it doesn’t change the way of governing, it may face the same
fate. Even though Murphy’s allegations may sound solid, they differ
from reality since the US in contrast with the Roman’s leaders like
Mark Antony has learned to adapt to the different dynamic environments
in which this world evolves.
Murphy argues that the US has expanded its influence all over the
world, and governing is becoming everyday more complex. The US
military has been expanding all over the world and now days count with
more than 2,700,000 men in service. The Roman military stretched too
thin in the past and there was a moment when it got out of control,
started falling apart and collapsed. Dealing with such number of
men in service is always going to be very complex for any entity or
government. To be able to deploy soldiers from one place to another,
logistics, and strategic support is always going to be a big challenge
for the US. Therefore in the future it is going to be a bigger
challenge to maintain or increase such number of service men. The
good part is that the US is able to understand the dynamic of current
environments in the world and is taking some steps to deal with future
events. For example, the incorporation of technology in the military
will decrease in the future the need of soldiers in the battle field.
On April 17 2007, A Bill was introduced by Rep. Christopher P. Carney
(H.Con.Res.113.IH) recognizing the important contributions and
tremendous potential of military ground robotics and expressing the
support of the congress for continued funding and development of
Unmanned Ground Vehicles or UGVs. There are currently more than
4,000 UGVs deployed in support of the global war on terror. UGVs have
played a critical role in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those UGVs have
neutralized more than 11,000 Improvised Explosive Devices saving the
life of many soldiers. This Bill was introduced to increase funding
for development and deployment of UGVs with more promising
capabilities, such as, sniper detection robots, casualty extraction
robots and next- generation EOD capabilities. The latest major action
taken on this Bill was on 4/26/2007 when it was referred to house
subcommittee on air and land forces.
Besides the use of technology in the military, the US is practicing
good political relations in order to have more allies. The US along
with Japan, Singapore, and Australia had a massive naval exercise in
the Bay of Bengal in 2007. Such exercise was hosted by India who
responded to a previous exercise carried on by the Chinese and
Pakistan navy in the Indian Ocean. (The Times, May 12, 2008). It is
very important for the US to rely on good allies, not like France who
didn’t get involved in the coalition to invade Iraq. France is
compared to Mark Antony who instead of been dedicated to the
governance matters was wasting time trying to please Cleopatra.
Cleopatra in this case would be compared to those Middle East
countries teasing the world with its oil surplus.
In the other hand we need to realize that the military is a
fundamental part of the economic life. Unfortunately it is very
complicated to understand that one of the most effective ways to
improve economy is through war. Wars and economy go together. The US
gets involved into wars either to improve the economy or to preserve
the American ideology. In Viet Nam for example, the US went to war to
preserve the capitalist ideology. Some people may say that America
lost the Viet Nam war but the truth is that we can’t compare 58,000
American casualties to more than 2,000,000 in both north and South
Viet Nam. The problem in this case is that Viet Nam didn’t just lose
more people but the ideal for what they were fighting for is gone.
The difference in this case was that Americans had a better
perception of life and withdrew from Viet Nam. The US decided to
fight communism economically and implemented embargo to the basic
necessities of Russia and Cuba. The US economic strategy destabilized
the Russian government and brought communism to an end.
The US used economic strategies to defeat communism, and the same
way this government can find new strategies to manipulate economy, in
order to redirect the course of history to its convenience. For
instance the 700 billion dollar bail out provided by the federal
government in the present is well known that is going to have a very
negative impact in the economy world wide 15 or more years from now.
But in the mean time it is a relief to the economic problems in the
present.
Every economic decision taken by the US government is considered very
careful by the rest of the countries all over the world. Even though
dealing with economic issues affecting this world is very complex, the
US accepts and confronts such challenge and invests time and money to
find ways to improve and maintain a healthy economy. Though many
economic procedures are taken by the US government to improve economy,
some of them will cause stagnation in the future as expressed in an
NBC show last week by Allen Greenspan, leader of the Federal Reserve.
Greenspan, who was in charge of the Federal Reserve for 18 years, said
that the endless government rescues are not a good idea and that
trying to protect every single institution may lead to stagnation. But
at the same time he concluded, some firms and institutions warrant
assistance.
As we can see economists have the capability to predict and find
solutions in a short or a long term to all the different problems the
American Republic may find in this complex world. The difference
between the US and the Roman Empire is that Americans are people full
of new ideas and sooner or later will find solutions to any economic
problem.
According to Murphy the U S government shouldn’t allow any state like
California or New York to directly engage into business with other
countries. He also claims that big corporations are taking control of
the economy world wide. But In order to deal with the economic
demands, the central government needs to adapt to the dynamics of
globalization. First of all, it needs to release some of the weight
over its shoulders and share some responsibilities with the different
states. As long as the states comply with the federal regulations of
international trade, they may engage into business with other
countries. At the same time it is important for big American
corporations to gain power world wide in order to take part in the
decision making in other countries. Such decisions may benefit the
American government and may help avoid future military conflicts.
Unlike the Roman Empire, The US has learned through time to adapt to
the different dynamic environments in which this world evolves. In
all aspects of life it is taking steps to stay ahead of the rest of
the world. In the military aspect the US doesn’t underestimate
anybody like the Romans did; otherwise it would have invaded Iraq in
the first incursion. But in the contrary, the US waited 10 years
planning and analyzing such situation in order to avoid mistakes done
on previous conflicts.
Even though managing will always be very complex, the American
ideology will prevail. As stated by Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 best
seller “The End o History and the Last Man” in which he argues that we
may have reached the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and
the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of
human government. The United States of North America is just too
powerful in all aspects of life, and for instance an optimistic
mentality should be maintained in order to prevail. Americans should
say as once expressed by Cicero “it doesn’t get any better than this.”
Bibliography:
Shakespeare, W., With A.R Branmuller(ed.) 1999.
Antony and Cleopatra
Cullen M. (2007, August, 06)
Are We Rome?
Worth D (2008, May, 21)
Power Struggle
Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1808260,00.htThomas-
Legislative Information
Retrieved from: http://thomas.loc.gov/
Ydstie J. (2008, October, 23)
Greenspan: U.S will take months to recover.
Retrieved from:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96047014&ft=1&f=1006