Story Summary

By Kishore Mahbubani
The Daily Star

However, too many American leaders are shirking this responsibility.

Last year, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, two U.S. senators, one member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and a deputy national security adviser participated in a forum on the future of American power (I was the chair). When asked what future they anticipated for American power, they predictably declared that the U.S. would remain the world’s most powerful country. When asked whether America was prepared to become the world’s second-largest economy, they were reticent.

In the U.S., many intellectuals are not fulfilling this obligation.

With 3 percent of the world’s population, the U.S. can no longer dominate the rest of the world, because Asians, with 60 percent of the world’s population, are no longer underperforming.

The failure of American intellectuals to challenge these ideas – and to help the U.S. population shed complacent attitudes based on ignorance – perpetuates a culture of coddling the public.

The U.S. should recognize that Asian countries are seeking not to dominate the West, but to emulate it.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2013/May-31/218939-america-must-think-the-unthinkable-it-is-declining.ashx#ixzz2V2aBU62Z
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)