Forgive me the pop geopolitics and the sweeping, metaphysical observation. But I believe there is some validity in this type of thinking...
Anyway, I had a thought today (perhaps not all that original) while reading a book about China's economy:
Perhaps much of the horrible aspects of the Bush presidency can be seen as a reaction and response to the rise of China.
Many historians believe the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were an early warning to the Soviet Union and Stalin.
Perhaps the Iraq War needs to be seen in the same light. A warning to China about our strength, a bid to maintain the dollar as the global currency, a pre-emptive seizure of critical oil supplies.
Perhaps the tax and budget priorities of the past 3 years need to be seen as allowing elites to opt out of an America that is descending into a form of economic vassalage to China. If we are racing to the bottom so that our multinationals can hire American workers more cheaply (to compete to some degree with China), then why pay for health care, why have decent public education, why pay for social security?
The Patriot Act, too, may be part of this overall strategy. Reigning in the American impulse towards freedom, establishing an early South Korean style corporate autarchy that smashes labor organization and prevents popular dissent amid general US economic decline.
I realize some of this is a bit facile and that there are complex reasons behind everything. And we went through similar fears about Japan in the early 1980s. But China's rise is qualitatively different and most likely here to stay as the biggest challenge to American hegemony and prsoperity and freedom on the globe.
I am NOT advocating a Cold War with China. Quite to the contrary. Perhaps our (progressive) salvation lies in a new strategy for co-existing with China, a new American deal that invests in education, writes environmental protections into trade legislation and so on. A strategy that dares China to "race to the top" with us.
Just some thoughts...