The American empire is falling

The clang-clang! bang-bang! of revolution is echoing across the world. First was the Rose Revolution in Georgia. Then Viktor Yushchenko’s Orange Revolution in Ukraine last fall and the uprising in Lebanon in February. Two weeks ago, demonstrators sat in the former president’s chair in Kyrgyzstan after the government fell from a peaceful protest.

We are living on the edge of a New World. The domino effect theory has been beaten back to life. Only this time, it is not rich communist cronies that democratic nations fear. It is their own citizens who pose the threat — one day soon they will stop tolerating the bullshit.

“The times they are a-changing.”

No nation is in greater need of change than the United States. It must adapt to the New Revolution in order to maintain its position in the global hierarchy.

The United States is quickly losing ground to the European Union in the Super Power Beauty Contest. Now that we have stopped returning their phone calls, soon they will stop calling.

We bashed former European allies for not buying into our phony war and gorged ourselves until we puked on “freedom fries.” (We have Ohio Sen. Bob Ney to thank for that one.)

We finally woke up from our war-lust love affair with phantom WMDs to see a global power shift. Bushy actually thought his lady secretary of state could kiss and make up to the European Union with a smile and a snake-eyed wink. Well, the European Union actually believes in gender equality. It is not afraid to punch a woman in the face.

We can still boast of having the fattest bank account. But does money really matter when millions of people are denied basic human rights guaranteed by international law to citizens of the European Union?

The United States — the so-called global defender of freedom, democracy and human rights — suffered a huge public relations defeat in 2001 when it was kicked off of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. European allies are tiring of the U.S. campaign against human dignity.

The United States has repeatedly voted against human rights in international law-making bodies. It voted against resolutions protecting the right to food, promoting generic HIV/AIDS medication, protecting the rights of children, condemning violence against women and protecting freedom of expression.

The United States even electrocutes mentally handicapped people.

While our great nation works to strip citizens of the rights it was founded on, allies in the European Union support these human rights resolutions. The United States’ extreme negligence is making the continental divide grow even wider.

The U.S. dollar has already succumbed to the euro. Now, with our nation’s human rights track record, our floundering respect is nearly extinct. The European Union is out for our annihilation. It is very likely the European Union will succeed.

Unless the U.S. government overhauls its policy and better tends to the needs of the people, President Bush will end up with the same fate as many of his colleagues. Either he will be mocked by his allies or ousted by the power of the people.

Either way, we must prepare for the fall of the American Empire.

Erin Roof is a junior magazine journalism major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].