A view of the United States
Criteria that until recently were considered exaggerations of the left are now part of a fairly generalized language to describe the situation in the United States. “Crisis of American democracy” is the most common conclusion to the chaotic presidential transfer of power from the Trump presidency.
“Democracy has triumphed,” Joe Biden said in his inaugural address countering this perception, but there’s also a need for the almost 80 million voters who believe they have been victims of a monumental fraud to believe it too. The country has been split in two and the government’s credibility is one of the lowest in its history.
The crisis of democracy is not only a domestic matter, nor does it exclusively respond to political and ideological problems, rather it reflects the cracks in the economic base that supports it. That is why it is related to the so-called relative loss of U.S. hegemony in the world, a more encompassing phenomenon, determined by the deterioration of the capacity of the United States to impose its ‘leadership’ on the rest of the countries.
The relationship between both dimensions (internal crisis and world leadership) is essential for the sustainability of the system and, when it fails, has an impact on the country’s own governance. The functionality of an imperialist state depends both on internal stability and the maintenance of its capacity for extraterritorial dominance. It is the main source of the rate of profit on its capital, as well as the extraordinary benefits that the majority of its inhabitants receive.
This domain includes the use of force, and the United States has been lavish in resorting to this resource, but above all it is achieved through what precisely Antonio Gramsci called “hegemony”, in short, a condition of superiority, which also includes economic dependence, culture, even the character and genetics of people, as some think.
As the result of the first anti-colonialist revolution in history and, together with the French Revolution the precursor of a philosophy that placed the individual and democracy at the center of its political doctrine, together with the unprecedented development of science and economics in a country vast in natural wealth, the United States became a paradigm of modernity and its political system a model to be imitated in the new ‘civilization.’
It does not matter that often the supposed benefits of the system do not withstand an objective analysis of its real consequences, what matters most is the perception of the superiority of the model. This collapsed when President Trump himself denounced the corruption of the system and, exploiting the most primitive instincts of his co-religionists, agitated his followers to forcefully violate the results of the elections.
The world knows that we are in the presence of a wounded beast, which does not mean that it is dead. The duration and traumas of the agony are also unknown. Many hope for his recovery because their respective positions also depend on U.S. hegemony. That is why the United States has not run out of allies, the difference is that now they are weaker facing the challenges that lie ahead.
Although it cannot be taken for granted, but rather requires the conscious action of its proponents, in this context the opportunities of forces opposed to U.S. hegemony are enhanced, especially of governments and progressive movements, which require a better international balance to advance their social and political agendas.
A basic scenario of this conflict will be precisely the United States, because what happens there will radiate decisively on the rest. It cannot be forgotten that, despite his almost 80 million votes, Trump lost the election thanks to a very broad social movement which prevented the advance of fascist forces in that country. This statement is enough to understand that Biden is not the same as Trump, despite everything that can be said against him.
It is true that behind these popular forces imperialist interests also act, so the Democratic Party victory does not change the nature of the system, nor does it constitute a renunciation of the geopolitical objectives that guide the foreign relations of the United States. Even an increase in the level of belligerence cannot be ruled out precisely because other resources are weakened, but brute aggression, without a convincing excuse, is not a builder of hegemony and, until now, the excuse par excellence has been the defense of democracy.
Because of this, it is important to have a cultured look at what is happening in the United States. There are no simple answers for an extraordinarily complex country with a territory that spans five time zones and is home to all climates, home to more than 300 million inhabitants of all races and national origins, with the largest economy and military might on eart. It is an exponent of a cultural richness that impacts all corners of the planet and, at the same time, is the depository of enormous economic inequalities where social conflicts of all kinds take place. It is also the largest consumer of drugs and shows levels of violence and crime that compete with the worst countries on the planet.
With the U.S., sometimes extraordinary and at other times decadent, the majority of the inhabitants of this earth have to live almost in permanent conflict. Especially Cubans who were born and raised together, and a good part of our national struggles have been determined by the confrontation with American hegemony.
Experience has taught us that the will to resist is not enough to survive, but rather a high dose of wisdom and intelligence is necessary. “To educate is to free,” said José Martí. I don’t believe he was referring to solely reading and writing… It is also necessary in politics.
