American Exceptionalism, Today, Tomorrow, Forever

As you might well imagine, we here at Chrome Asylum are pretty fond of the good old U.S. of A.; from cheeseburgers to Harley's, Bay Watch to the second amendment and a bunch of other cool stuff in between, we think America's about the best thing that's happened to this big blue sphere in the last 240 or so years. Period. It's just that obvious, right..........

But no, it seems every damn week (since old K Marx was knee high to the proletariat that is.....go ahead, look it up) we find ourselves subjected to the nihilistic musings of some effete, concave chested, couldn't hold on to his lunch money in grade school, left leaning, ivy school "credentialed" puke, fairly bursting with the "news" that America is slipping........that the long global nightmare of U.S. political, industrial and social leadership is over. A new world order is in the making!..........sorry, I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

Armed with uncontained contempt for the great unwashed (that would be you and I my friend, and anyone else without a Che t-shirt and an RSS feed to the Huff Post), these nitwits assail their hapless readers with endless "facts" to back their idiotic assertions. Allow me only to highlight, subjecting you to a more detailed analysis would only serve to make your eyes bleed.

Most "America is soon to be toast" articles start with some sort of quantitative analysis; stuff like number of patents issued, steel exports, super-computers, student test scores, number of political prisoners murdered (oops, my bad on that last one), etc. The premise being, if the U.S. is lagging in terms of these key "indicators" (which amazingly enough it always is.....can you say "stacked deck?") then naturally America is falling behind, which of course means China and India, are leaping ahead to fulfill their rightful role as global leaders. Yeah sure.

First off, as is so often the case with the "best and the brightest" (you know, the very same folks that brought you the financial melt-down, the housing bubble, green jobs, reckless government spending, and endless "bail-outs"......etc.,etc., etc.) and their manic obsession with "the numbers", their analysis totally misses the mark. Unfortunately, vomiting endless streams of data, facts and figures (no matter how tortured the underlying "analysis"), while comforting to those not gifted with the slightest modicum of common sense, rarely leads to insightful conclusions.

In short, these over educated bozo's mistake the manipulation of data (this might be a good point to start chanting "correlation is not causation".....there could be a test), for true wisdom and insight. How do I know this, you mean other than the fact that they completely miss the central point of their own arguments? Easy, American exceptionalism has absolutely nothing to do with economic metrics. It's far simpler than that, which is precisely why the smarties never quite get it.

Here's the deal, simply put America's singular greatness rests entirely on the U.S.'s fundamental underpinnings of individual liberty and the rule of law. The primacy of the individual, and not the state, along with the guarantee of those rights by the constitution is the real engine of the economic miracle that is the United States of America. Without individual liberty; creativity, innovation, and invention are all but impossible. America's "source" of exceptionalism is therefore almost limitless........alas, the same cannot be said of either China or India.

Putting aside for a moment the fact that both China and India have enormous populations, a fact that is sure to be a source of much grief in the not so very distant future (that's a lot of folks that are gonna wake up one day demanding big screens, Lucky jeans, a decent wage and free speech......yikes), how does each country stack up in terms of solid economic/political foundations? Sadly not well at all..........sorry Ameri-haters.

Let's start with China, the world's source of all things cheap, home of the lowest bidder, from steel to Mardi Gras beads, if it can be made for next to nothing, China's slave labor work force will grind it out. Too harsh? You tell me. China's communist; yes I said communist, (lest you forget........these are basically the same folks that brought you the Cultural Revolution, only tens of millions killed in that little social experiment) form of government is a completely morally bankrupt, corrupt, brutal dictatorship.

The average Chinese citizen has no basic human rights as we in the west would recognize them. Freedom of speech? Please. Rule of law? You have to be joking. Freedom of the press? Of course, as long as you're towing the party line......."don't make us turn off the Internet", again. Oh, and how about the right to peaceful assembly and protest? Guess we could ask that student that stood up to the battle tank in Tianamen Square...........if he's still alive. The fact is, China's people live under a brutal totalitarian regime, and if current events have shown us anything, it seems that the relentless tide of human liberty is a bitch..........if you're one of the unfortunates propping up the ruling junta that is. China's days are numbered.......

But what about the Chinese economic "miracle"? Forgetting just for a moment the toll that "miracle" has taken on the very people it should actually be lifting up, most of it is just smoke and mirrors that is eventually doomed to the landfill (biodegradable one only hopes) of history. The currency and capital market is manipulated beyond reality, while stupidly restrictive domestic  tariffs ensure that China doesn't have to compete with the rest of the world. Worse yet, most of China's technical and industrial "innovation" is the result of outright theft of intellectual property and corporate espionage.....encouraged by the government no less!! Remember that whole rule of law thing?

Lastly, of the 1.4 billion or so Chinese, a staggering 650 million live in abject poverty, on less than $5 a day, with little or no hope of changing their current situation. This is not a recipe for long term stability, you can only build so many dams, "ghost cities", and the like before the string runs out on the scam. For almost half the population, there has been no "economic miracle", and worse yet, they know it. China is a house of cards, plain and simple, and in the long run, at least in it's present form, is doomed to failure.

Same holds true for India, but for different reasons...........while it's true that India is a "democracy", the world's biggest don't ya know.........always an impressive stat for our pointy headed ivy leaguers, it suffers from the iron grip of an ancient caste system. They don't like to acknowledge it, but it's there, and in full force as a major roadblock to upward mobility. And let's not forget the almost complete lack of infrastructure virtually everywhere but major population centers (this is equally true for the Peoples Republic.......the delicious irony of that moniker), and the iron grip of grinding poverty that is the luckless fate of most Indian's. Throw in religious unrest, sectarian violence, a neighbor (Pakistan) that would like nothing better than a flimsy excuse to lob over a few nukes, and the prospects for the blossoming of individual liberty and long term economic growth is shaky at best.

Here's the deal, are India and China enjoying massive economic growth? Yes they are, without doubt. But that's not the point. The point is, when arguing that the U.S.'s economy and world influence is in decline, while China and India elbow each other for bragging rights to the top rung of the ladder, the chattering classes miss the fundamental flaw in their analysis. China and India are not free countries, at least not in terms of guaranteeing individual liberty to their citizens so that they can pursue their destiny as they see fit. Whether it's ancient custom or a brutal regime, the good and decent people of these countries are not free to maximise their individual potentials, which in turn limits the ultimate achievement of their respective economic systems.

No question, the U.S. is facing daunting economic, political and social challenges, many of which, if left unresolved could have far reaching consequences.........but we face them as a free people, working within the construct of a system designed to ensure that very freedom. That's an inherent advantage not easily overcome..........and as long as we adhere to our founding principles and ideals, we will continue to be the worlds leader and shining light for all those people that strive for individual liberty. There's never been another nation on earth like the United States, and had that lucky coincidence not occurred, had there been no U.S. of A., I can pretty much guarantee that the world we occupy now would be a much darker place..........

OK, off my box, rant over.........and for those of you that expected the normal dose of motorcycle news, riding tips, Harley-Davidson riding reviews, and cool customs, I apologize.........we'll get back on track, as a matter of fact, we've got another "Sturgis or Die" posting teed up and ready to go, as well as some product reviews.