What Does A 'Post-American World' Look Like?
Thirty years ago, the United States dominated the world politically, economically and scientifically. But today?
"The tallest building in the world is now in Dubai, the biggest factory in the world is in China, the largest oil refinery is in India, the largest investment fund in the world is in Abu Dhabi, the largest Ferris wheel in the world is in Singapore," notes Fareed Zakaria. "And ... more troublingly, [the United States is] also losing [its] key grip on indices such as patent creation, scientific creations and things like that — which are really harbingers of future economic growth."
Zakaria, the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS , which shows how the collapse of communism and the Soviet empire — as well as the rise of global markets — has leveled the playing field for many other countries around the world.
"The result is you have countries all over the world thriving and taking advantage of the political stability they have achieved, the economic connections of a global market, the technological connection into this market," he tells Fresh Air America, Zakaria says, is also starting to lag behind other countries in education, building a competitive workforce, and fostering new energy and digital infrastructure to support those workers — all markers of long-term economic growth. He says America is now heading toward what he calls a "post-American" world, in which the United States' share of the "global pie" is much smaller — as the rest of the globe begins to catch up. "In economic terms, the rise of the rest [of the globe] is a win-win," he says. "The more countries that get rich [and] the larger the world economy, the more people there are producing, consuming, investing, saving, loaning money. ... If we didn't have the rest of the world growing, the United States economy would be in much worse shape than it is today." But Zakaria cautions that the economic growth around the world — and the benefits that global economic stability create — do not extend to the political arena. "Politics and power is a realm of relative influence," he says. "So as China expands its role in Asia, whose role is diminishing? Of course, the established power — the United States. It's not possible for two countries to be the leading dominant political power at the same time." America's political system, Zakaria says, becomes mired in debate and cannot deal with the short-term deficit. "To put it in perspective, if Congress were to do nothing, the Bush tax cuts would expire next year," he says. "That by itself would yield $3.9 trillion to the federal government over the next 10 years. We would go to the bottom of the pack in terms of deficit as a percentage of GDP among the rich countries in the world — we would basically solve our fiscal problems for the short term.
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Pirates are increasingly moving their sphere of influence from off the coast of Africa and the Gulf of Aden towards India, affecting many of its major shipping routes including those out of Mumbai. The fearless pirates are getting so far they are even
Even shopping, America's greatest sporting activity, has gone global. Of the top ten malls in the world, only one is in the United States; the world's biggest is in Dongguan, China. Such lists are arbitrary, but it is striking that twenty years ago,
The Colbert Bump: TV satirist's sphere of influence is growing ...
CHICAGO - What do Sarah Palin, the Federal Election Commission, the United Farm Workers of America, Wikipedia, U.S. Speedskating, pop singer Rebecca Black and Northwestern University have in common?</p><p> The Colbert Bump.</p><p> Some know its influence, some crave its generosity. But each has seen its power.</p><p> For instance, U.S. Speedskating craved the Bump. A week before the start of its 2009 World Cup season, Paul Brabants, director of the team, received a call from a producer with "The Colbert Report," the satirical Comedy Central news show hosted by the mock-egomaniacal Stephen Colbert. Word had reached the Colbert camp of the team's troubles, which, to Brabants, seemed insurmountable: The World Cup was starting, the Winter Olympics were just around the corner and the team was facing a massive financial shortfall.</p><p> Dutch bank DSB had gone under, and with it the $300,000 sponsorship the bank had pledged to the team. So "The Colbert Report" offered to step in, raise the necessary money - and become the official sponsor of U.S. Speedskating. "To be honest, I didn't think about it that long," Brabants said. "I don't want to say there were no reservations. It is a comedy show; we didn't know how this would be perceived. But right out of the blue, Colbert proposed rallying Colbert Nation to our cause - and that is not a gift you turn down."</p><p> Demographically speaking, it's a dream audience: "The Colbert Report" has a nightly viewership of 1.5 million, and with "The Daily Show," its companion fake newscast, beats both Leno and Letterman in the coveted 18-to-34-year-old viewing segment. Then there's its knack for altruism: Our conservative estimate of how much "The Colbert Report" has raised for various charities since 2005, largely through modest viewer donations, is $3.5 million.</p><p> Simply defined, though, the Colbert Bump is a megaphone of influence, shouted by a comedian with a keen ethical compass who plays a blowhard with no ethical compass and hopes the audience gets the difference.</p><p> It began as a kind of joke - in the sense that Colbert, the host, would bluster on about the "bump" his show gave anyone or anything appearing on it. However, the Bump has become anything but a joke - in the sense that the political, philanthropic and social ramifications of Colbert and his sway over his audience have grown remarkable, touching on a dizzying range of subjects both silly and serious. "I love my brother, but I probably wouldn't have driven out here if it wasn't for (Colbert) being here," Sam Engstrom, of Washington, D.C., said last month at Northwestern University, where Colbert, an alum, delivered the commencement speech.</p><p> In the spring, Colbert and Jimmy Fallon promised to perform Black's infamous hit, "Friday," if the Colbert Nation raised at least $26,000 for the charity Donors Choose. Done. In June, Colbert asked the FEC if he could create an organization to solicit funds for campaign advertising. "All I'm trying to do is affect the 2012 election," he told Trevor Potter, a former FEC chairman (now Colbert's lawyer), during an episode of the show. "It's not like I'm trying to install iTunes." Done.</p><p> When Colbert broke his wrist in 2007 and began selling $5 rubber "Wriststrong" bracelets (in recognition of "wrist violence"), proceeds went to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which assists injured service members. The show raised $171,000 in a few months - and through eBay auctions of props from the set and additional sources (including proceeds from "AmeriCone Dream," the Colbert-branded flavor of Ben & Jerry's ice cream) since has brought the total to $350,000 for the organization. As Mark Robbins, the director of Yellow Ribbon, said: "People don't realize (Colbert) is like a conduit to money for charities. He's raised our visibility beyond anything we had expected. Now I get random checks from people - 'Here's $10 in honor of Stephen's birthday.' No kidding."</p><p> Indeed, a few days after Colbert asked viewers to donate to U.S. Speedskating, the show raised $202,000 through its website; soon after, its logo was stitched onto the team's uniforms. By January, it had raised $300,000.</p><p> "That one man can have so much influence over an audience is fascinating," said Katherine Reutter, the speedskater who went on to win two medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She said that the Colbert Nation "is not really supporting speedskating anymore, but the boost he gave us helped us create Speedskater Nation (a website to solicit donations). None of us even knew Stephen. You wouldn't necessarily expect that he's out to do good in this world. But I felt that. When you go on the show, they give you a basket backstage and inside is a $100 gift card to the charity of your choice. That's real decency."</p><p> The Bump, however, is not solely warm and fuzzy. In fact, though it has been a good summer for the Bump, the Bump is not necessarily something you want. A few weeks ago, after Colbert mocked "Terry the Fracosaurus," the hard hat-wearing, pro-drilling dinosaur mascot of Canada-based natural gas provider Talisman Energy, the character disappeared from the company's website. And in June, after Sarah Palin supporters reportedly altered a Wikipedia page for Paul Revere to reflect her widely quoted remarks about the Revolutionary War figure, Colbert asked his viewers to change Wikipedia's entry for "bell" to also reflect her comments. A minute later, it read: "Used by Paul Revere to warn the British that hey, you're not going to succeed in taking our guns."</p><p> On the political side, there are the many implications of the Colbert SuperPAC, the organization that the FEC approved and Colbert plans to use to promote or oppose political candidates during the 2012 presidential election. Its specific implications are debatable, though that's probably Colbert's intention.</p><p> </p><p> Potter, who steered Colbert through the FEC process, said: "Stephen's PAC is a teaching moment. People are learning what the loopholes are, and that's a good thing for a democracy. The FEC is obscure and terrifically important, and anyone who can get the country to focus on campaign finance reform is doing a public service. Remember, he just wanted to ask a question: Why can't I have a PAC?"</p><p> According to Robert Weissman, president of the Washington group Public Citizen - which opposed the comedian's FEC endeavor on the grounds that he was opening a barn door to rampant media-based election financing - Colbert is making a point about the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited corporate funding of political campaigns.</p><p> "Which was an absurd decision," Weissman said, "but Colbert just happened to take his joke about it all the way to a decision, which has consequences. My guess is he's making it up as he goes along. His first obligation is wondering if something is funny, not if it's going to change the way the FEC operates. And that's not minor."</p><p> </p><p> Regardless of what his PAC means, however, the line between Colbert the satirist and Colbert the advocate has grown increasingly thin, said Sophia McClennen, a professor of comparative literature at Penn State who has a book about Colbert's influence, "America According To Colbert," coming this fall. "Someone with a massive fan base who can get them to do whatever they want is not what anyone wants to see in a healthy democracy. But I think he has a knack for choosing causes that are meaningful and causes that are silly, and, more importantly, he has the faith in the audience to understand the difference - and the larger lesson.</p><p> "I think his playing a right-wing blowhard character, balancing it with a reality - that's not new," she added. "But Colbert is offering us a new definition of what it means to be a public intellectual, which is about amusing ourselves to activism."</p><p> Dick Gregory, the legendary political activist and comedian, couldn't agree more: "He works for this generation because he knows its cadences, its lingo. If I wanted young people to read the Bible, I'd want a rap group to deliver it, then kids would know it better than preachers. Colbert gets this, but I wonder if he knows how powerful he is, that (he and Jon Stewart) are in position to determine policy! I think I first realized that when they did that rally."</p><p> He was referring to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which drew an estimated 250,000 to the Mall in Washington in October. It was activism without a cause. Or, as a sign there read: "Vague But Awesome."</p><p> </p><p> At least twice this summer Colbert did something fairly remarkable for Colbert: He publicly broke with his character. Both instances gave a glimpse, if fleeting, of the 47-year-old himself, who lived in Chicago for years as an actor at The Second City. Outside the FEC hearing in Washington, after the commission gave its decision, he told the crowd: "Some have cynically asked if this is some kind of a joke. But I don't think that participating in democracy is a joke. I don't think that wanting to know what the rules are is a joke."</p><p> And in Evanston, Ill., during Northwestern's commencement: "In my experience, you will truly serve only what you love, because, as the Prophet says, service is love made visible. ... If you love money, you will serve only money. And if you love only yourself, you will serve only yourself, and you will have only yourself."</p><p> </p><p> It's easy to read into Colbert, because he offers so little of himself. Indeed, for this story, he would only answer a few questions via email, and the replies were blunt and largely unrevealing. How does he select the charity groups he works with? Generally, if "the cause appeals" to him. Because of the success of the Colbert Nation, is he frequently solicited by political organizations and charity groups - and if so, how is this handled? He is never solicited by political organizations and his significant charity work tends to appear on the show, he said.</p><p> Why use "The Colbert Report" as a springboard for advocacy?</p><p> "Why not?"</p><p> Said Jonathan Alter, a former Newsweek columnist who is good friends with Colbert (and whose wife is a "Colbert Report" producer): "I think Stephen doesn't really believe in ever being explicit about his intentions. ... He kind of had to be explicit at the end of his Congressional testimony in support of farmworkers (conducted in character, before a House subcommittee on immigration). That didn't go the way he wanted. He was ironic and the committee was not laughing. He's left of center and admits this, but he's not in it to advance an ideology. He's a fake newsman, but he shows how things work and the way things don't work, and I think he's turned into a real journalist.</p><p> "Also, to say he doesn't resemble his character in real life is a gross understatement. Satire always comes out of idealism, and to be a great satirist, you need to be an idealist. One does not work without the other."</p><p> </p><p> Colbert's background is familiar, often repeated: He's from South Carolina, the youngest of 11 children and the son of James W. Colbert, who was the first vice president of academic affairs for the Medical University of South Carolina and killed in a plane crash in 1974 (along with two of Stephen's brothers). Indeed, much of his charity work is administrated from South Carolina. The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, which was run by his sister-in-law Madeleine McGee for a decade, distributes proceeds from the Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund to various charities, and also maintains a separate Colbert Family Fund.</p><p> In addition, Colbert is on the board of Donors Choose, which helps needy classrooms and has landed a Colbert Bump of more than $1.2 million since Colbert joined the board in 2007. It's also a key example of why Colbert is so popular in activist circles: "He's kind of helped define our brand," said Charles Best, the founder of Donors Choose. "He's probably one of the big reasons why people might look to our charity as being forward-thinking. ... You want his influence to rub off on you." </p><p> Likewise, said Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers of America: "It's important for someone like him to raise issues for us but do it differently. Certainly in regards to reaching an English-speaking audience, he has been by far the most effective vehicle we have ever seen. The traffic on our website doubles every time he mentions us."</p><p> Colbert also is deeply Catholic - he even teaches Sunday school. The Rev. James Martin, a friend and the culture editor of American magazine, a weekly Catholic magazine, said these are not small points: "I think, in a way, Stephen is participating in what the Vatican calls the new evangelization, which (is) trying new ways of spreading the Gospel. Satire can be a form of evangelization. Jesus used parables as satire."</p><p> I asked Colbert if he sees his works as a kind of ministry, as a spreading of Christian ideals.</p><p> He wrote that he "doesn't believe charity is an exclusively Christian idea."</p><p> I asked Martin if there's anything trendy about doing charity work because of Colbert, if the message gets lost in the joke. "The question reminds me of Aristotle, who said we become virtuous by acting virtuously," he said. "I see the point, but just doing something at first is fine. If you help people only because you think you should, and others do, that's not so bad. I doubt that's what Stephen intends, of course. I think a lot of his message is simple - it's that old thing about 'comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.'"</p><p> I asked Colbert if it's ever a concern that the stunt aspect of his advocacy on "The Colbert Report" will become the primary draw, and not the cause itself being advocated. He replied with a single sentence:</p><p> "It doesn't matter as long as the cause you've chosen is one you believe in."</p><p> Christopher Borrelli: cborrelli@tribune.
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