this will be my last response to this thread to prevent it from getting unwieldy
It started out unwieldy because your argument that ceding control of Asia to China means nothing to the US is completely stupid, at least in the current context of the US still hoping to maintain a dominant global position (which doesn't always necessarily have to be the case as we'll see later in the post). In order words, the seed was retarded so the tree could only grow out crooked.
And get what exactly? What noticeably changes?
Obviously, to create an environment for China where not only does it not need to dedicate resources to foil hostile actions from its neighbors but eventually one where it can draw from them when/if needed. You don't even understand the geopolitical impact of being in a friendly vs hostile environment??
Developed countries can be far more ideological and have much more stable political orientations
Ideology is empty words. "Far more" ideological means nothing more than what I said, that they are won over by the same mechanisms as what would take to win over developing countries but they need more. Takes a lot more money bribe a crooked Judge to put an innocent man in jail than to bribe a crooked janitor to toss a roach into someone's locker but the mechanism is the same.
US service members in Germany are not imaginary,
They're also not America's economy.
GE aircraft engines are not imaginary,
That's true; that's a remnant of American technological manufacturing, and it is a sector that America is losing more and more to China. GE engines are definitely not imaginary, but they are a very small part of a huge US economy made, in large, of imaginary and/or self-cancelling services.
and tariffs are not imaginary.
They basically are. They're circumvented through taking things apart or routing through third party countries and all it is self-cancelling in that it is a tax on America's own people which will be paid to support other American people.
The physical and material basis for US power is quite deep and stable. Has nothing to do with trust
No, there is very little material left; it was true at the end of WWII but it has well faded by now. But America's self-painted image as the only hope for Western civilization and democracy is deep and stable in Europe... for now.
Okay: the U.S. “loses” Asia and Europe. What happens the next day in the United States that makes it a calamity? No one seems to complete this thought because the answer is “nothing. No one outside of Washington DC notices anything because the U.S. is an island, both geographically and economically”. A few people in DC get mad for a few weeks and then they move onto the latest controversy about transgender potatoes. The stakes to the U.S. are low - there’s nothing at risk for the United States that has any material impact. A U.S.-China war happens within the 1IC and 2IC; it doesn’t go anywhere near even Hawaii. It’s just a sideshow, a cultural war item in presidential campaigns, a few tv news stories, etc. no one in the lower 48, Alaska or Hawaii will feel anything.
Again, the U.S. is very wealthy and has been very wealthy for very long while simultaneously being very large and geographically isolated. Said wealth and size is entirely prophylactic to the U.S. - the lack of international exposure in any realm makes any kind of foreign shock trivially small
That's right, nothing. It's not like China's gonna slaughter or enslave the US population. So what's the big deal? Just give up! Abdicate! I once said that the US would, seeing its own power fade in relation to China's and without hope of maintaining a global hegemonic position, mellow out, just like you said. It's no longer a global superpower that demands things of its minions to feed its might but just a country minding its own business at home. It'd make life a whole lot better for Americans and I hope to see American politicians mellow down and retire America as the world police/leader peacefully. Sure beats WWIII. I'm glad you find this acceptable because most American politicians would scream like you dropped them into boiling water at such an idea. And although you have a low opinion of them, the unfortunate fact is that they hold a lot more sway over how the US behaves than you do. America needs guys like you in office, both as negotiators and policy makers, you know? But more importantly, China would like America to have more guys like you in positions of power in the US.
