Thougths on Reclaiming The American Dream, Exceptionalism in the 21st Century

Foreword This book came to be as a means to stimulate debate, clarify our opportunities for peace, security and prosperity in our time, the 21st century. A thought-provoking journey of self-discovery and a little soul-searching towards addressing the important questions of our time; namely, how to navigate a world of increasing competition and threats to our way of life. The America of today is markedly different to the United States that confronted and won the Cold War or frankly, the pre-9/11 United States. It is a different time and age now. And what we are witnessing is that the post 9/11 generation, indeed, the New Millennial generation has already weathered much, albeit in their nascency. Of these hoops, a technology explosion at the turn of the century; 9/11 and the subsequent global war on terror; the Great Recession of 2007; the Arab Spring; the scourge of ISIS; great power competition from Communist China and other creeping near-peer competitors; and finally, a revisionist, expansionist, belligerent and rogue Russian state that has fundamentally de-stabilized the rules-based international order in ways that are yet to be fully understood. This is also a book about the American Dream and how it has evolved or changed, if at all, in the New Millennium; with just about everything changing from how we work, shop, communicate and even learn; across both important and mundane aspects of modern life. Artificial intelligence, will it be our friend or seek to replace us as a species? Or has the world already been turned into some kind of cybernetic-collectives, as Elon Musk has posited? How about the effects of globalization and trade, have we realized gains and savings consummate with the loss of factories and jobs overseas or to low-wage jurisdictions? That is, are we better-off? This is a loaded book, buckle up for the ride. For all policy makers, is the bleak future of authoritarianism and communist dictatorship, the acceptable price of total surrender? Is this how we honor the sacrifice of Allied veterans and their memory? Is this the acceptable end-game of American and Allied sacrifice of blood and treasure, since World War I? Is the change of national territories by force-the sad case of Ukraine and possibly Taiwan-, a harbinger of the chaos, destruction and death, post an American-led world order, acceptable? Honestly, is this the future we imagined for our world and our posterity? Nay, let all the good men and women declare, “Not on our watch!” This brings us to evaluate and undertake self-introspection, an existential soul-searching exercise of global consequence. Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and friends, the world as we know it is changing. And we must answer both honestly and courageously, in order to not only preserve our moral character, but also if we are to preserve a fighting chance to secure the blessings of liberty, for ourselves and the posterity of the human race. The world hangs in the balance and the Thucydides trap is upon us. Fear and a clear lack of a global grand strategy, involving the unity and triumph of Democracies, dooms the world. We must reinvent and realign our global leadership, all under the aegis of universal values. We must re-articulate, re-commit and reinvigorate our values and what we stand for, in order to realize our manifest destiny-liberty for all mankind. We must seek the welfare of all humanity as fellow earthlings; otherwise, we risk lashing out in conflict, a global retreat and the irreversible betrayal of our very founding values; liberty, security and prosperity for all mankind. Let us come together to preserve democracy, liberty, peace and prosperity for all humanity in our time and for all time. Godspeed!