OPINION:
Sometimes Americans’ competitive nature requires that we think of our current rivals as much more impressive than they actually are.
As difficult as it is to imagine now, in the 1950s and 1960s, many thought that Soviet Russia would overtake us. They turned out to be wrong.
In the 1970s, the Arabs were going to run the world because of their perceived hegemony in oil. Didn’t happen. In the 1980s and into the 1990s, the United States was fixated on the idea that Japan, Inc. was the new, better model.
Now, we face communist China, whose impressive and bloody 50-year run has transformed them from a mostly poor and rural farm economy to the world’s factory floor. Many, including some in the United States (looking at you, Larry Fink), believe that the communist model emphasizing conformity, the collective, and the unquestioned authority of the state is superior to our own.
Let’s take a look at our new rival and how we compare.
First, the economy. Depending on how you count, China is either the largest or the second-largest economy in the world. Yet, Americans make between four and six times more than the Chinese per capita.
As always, aggregated numbers hide important information. America is already much wealthier than China, mostly because of the efficiency of the American economy and American businesses — U.S. GDP per worker is 6 times greater than China’s. In the last 20 years, the American economy has generated $12 trillion more in wealth for American consumers than the Chinese economy has created for Chinese consumers.
Since 2019, 257,000 more people (in a population of nearly 1.4 billion) in China have become millionaires, while an additional 1.75 million Americans (in a population of about 330 million) have become millionaires.
We also have an enormous economic advantage because the dollar is the reserve currency for the world. This is primarily because of the American commitment to private property, the rule of law, and a relative lack of corruption. If you invest in the United States, there is little chance that the government will nationalize or otherwise materially degrade the investment.
How about demographics? By 2031, the population of China will peak and then start a slow and steady drop for the remainder of the century. China’s population will also age; by 2040, they will have 317 million people over the age of 65 (compared to 81 million in the U.S.).
More ominously, by 2040, there will be 50 million more men than women in China. This imbalance, created primarily by the one-child policy (and Chinese families’ preference for male children), ensures delayed and suboptimal family formation and attendant social unrest.
The size and composition of the population in the U.S., on the other hand, are limited only by our willingness to accept and assimilate immigrants. If necessary, we could accept millions of immigrants in a short period of time. The desire to become American and the struggles that people endure to get and stay here are the best evidence that the communist Chinese model is in no way superior or ascendant.
Each year, more than a million people immigrate into the United States legally, and probably another million make it into the country illegally. More than a half-million people (net) escape from China each year.
For good or ill, we also dominate the culture. For 100 years, since screens (TVs, computers or cell phones) became ubiquitous, we have been the largest and most significant provider of cultural content provider to the globe. If you don’t think that is important, imagine if your child’s or grandchild’s favorite movie or singer was from China.
One obvious result of this dominance is that the English language is now the planet’s reserve language. While English colonialism was essential in the linguistic colonization of the world, the U.S expanded and completed the process. About 1.35 billion people speak English, most of them (about 1 billion) as a second language. By comparison, about 1.1 billion people speak Mandarin, almost all of them as a first language.
We also dominate education. According to the Center for World University Rankings, 29 of the top 50 universities globally are found in the United States. The highest-rated Chinese university is #58.
How about national security? The United States enjoys two of the longest peaceful borders on the planet and leads multiple networks of alliances. In comparison, the Chinese have few friends, are surrounded by hostile neighbors, including India, Vietnam, Australia, the Philippines, Japan and, most importantly, Taiwan, and use half of their military resources to ensure their border security.
Given all of this, it is obvious that the best way to approach the threat posed by communist China is to build on our strengths. We did not become the world’s dominant economic, educational, linguistic, cultural and military force by worrying about every new contender. We achieved that dominance by emphasizing personal liberty and resisting collectivism, keeping government involvement in our lives to a minimum, valuing creativity and innovation in all their forms, recognizing and defending private property, and respecting the rule of law.
To win this new contest, we need to keep doing what has made us the leaders of the world for the last 150 years.
• Michael McKenna, a columnist for The Washington Times, is the co-host of “The Unregulated” podcast. He was most recently a deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House.
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