Rising To the Top, and Descending

AMONG AGGRESSIVE PRIMATES, of which homo sapien sapiens is the most, there are always gangs, one of which always resides at the top of the proverbial heap. The current occupant never remains, a competitor inevitably comes to replace the top dog as complacency sets in and cultural stagnation derives from hubris. The current occupant is the United States of America, having held the position since the end of World War One, having supplanted Great Britain, on which the sun finally set, with dignity. In America, cultural stagnation has already set in. We Americans are too fond of ourselves, we take too many pictures of ourselves, we show them too proudly, and we spend too much time watching seductive salacious television, too little time in productive pursuits. Our replacement would seem to be China, formerly "red" China, the ancient kingdom which held the top position in ancient times, unbeknownst to the moribund west. Nature, after all, is cyclical. Egypt, India, Persia, Greece, Rome, all have taken their turns. The Chinese are fueling their rise to the apex with communist capitalism, coal, wind, and solar energy, using the most highly driven and innovative mercantilism ever devised. There are five hundred million new members of the Chinese middle class. The fact that twenty million residents of Beijing wear gas masks with regularity is but a trivial matter, an economic externality they seem willing to endure. Who needs a view? American millennials will live to see their nation replaced at the top. Baby boomers will not. To the billion and a half imminent kings and queens of the ancient kingdom, a warning: your insatiable taste for American cigarettes is a clear warning; as we Americans are learning, no empire can thrive long when the people no longer breathe freely.