Do you hear the calls for a challenge to U.S. power? It is everywhere these days. Now that the Soviet Cold War threat has dissolved, who needs the United States to fend off the bullies in the global playground. Those who believe that economic prosperity and life will continue to be merry without U.S. leadership may want to think again. Better yet, can the global economy afford to exist without direction and leadership in general?

Let’s say the U.S. were to gradually lose power and influence to the point where nations either scrambled to defend themselves or formed alliances in a new bid to seize control over territory and precious resources. Sounds a lot like the imperialism of the early 1900s to me. Well, maybe with a few more players.

It is in our time of economic insecurity that the worst in humanity is revealed. Whether it is via terrorist attacks, religious extremism, imperialism, civil war, corporate scandal, and so on. The list goes on. I do not purposely mean to ruin the party, stop the parade, or be a contrarian. It’s just my nature to question authority and ask the difficult questions that most people are either too bothered or busy to think/care about. We actually make problems bigger than they are by covering up the scars or ignoring the signs. Can we really afford to kid ourselves into believing that no matter what happens everything will be fine?

I think history would tend to argue otherwise…

Over at MSNBC, Fareed Zakaria writes, “The world today bears some resemblance to the 1920s, when a newly globalized economy was booming, and science and technological change were utterly transforming life. (Think of the high-tech of the time—electricity, radio, movies and cars, among other recent inventions.) But with Britain declining and America isolationist, that was truly a world without political direction. Eventually protectionism, nationalism, xenophobia and war engulfed it.

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In a provocative essay in Foreign Policy three years ago, the British historian Niall Ferguson speculated that the end of American hegemony might not fuel an orderly shift to a multipolar system but a descent into a world of highly fragmented powers, with no one exercising any global leadership. He called this “apolarity.” “Apolarity could turn out to mean an anarchic new Dark Age,” Ferguson wrote, “an era of waning empires and religious fanaticism, of economic plunder and pillage in the world’s forgotten regions, of economic stagnation, and civilization’s retreat into a few fortified enclaves.” That might be a little farfetched. But for those who have been fondly waiting for the waning of American dominance—be careful what you wish for.” (Source: MSNBC)

In my estimation, Zakaria has hit the nail on the head. He takes into account historical relevance most often forgotten by today’s leaders. Maybe this is just a phenomenon that out of our hands. The problem, specifically within the past century in regards to the global economy lies in the false sense of security and our inability to conduct a sustainable economy. If you think the good times will last forever maybe it is time to put on your reality cap.

I think in general we have been pampered and conditioned to believe that the bullish rallies since ‘82, running massive debt/trade imbalance, wasteful habits, irrational behavior, etc. can go unchecked. Every expansion has a contraction period, although much shorter in length due to the population expansion and progress of man. This global pullback may not happen tomorrow, but something will eventually give when natural forces begin to pull economies and civilizations back into balance. Every major superpower and empire in time has been thrusted into the spotlight only to see internal and external forces become unfavorable and unable to be overcome. Just as the sun rises and sets, heats and cools, and seasons change, so too will the roaring 2000s.

In life you cannot be afraid to ask if something is too good to be true, because it is most often the case. Then again, we do have the ability to change our fortunes. We are not necessarily destined for doom here. Alternative courses are chosen every single day. Could globalization and the Internet bring people closer together? I certainly hope so. Instead of turning on itself, maybe the globe will become flat and its citizens destined for a place of greatness.

Hope for a better life, for love, for freedom because without it…the dream can fall apart.