Written by: Anonymous

Reading through some notes the other evening, I came across a few lines that I thought particularly fine. They were penned by a young John Adams in the fall of 1755, a newly minted Harvard graduate employed as a school proctor...

"All that part of Creation that lies within our observation is liable to change. Even mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted. If we look into history, we shall find some nations rising from contemptible beginnings and spreading their influence, until the whole globe is subjected to their ways. When they have reached the summit of grandeur, some minute and unsuspected cause commonly affects their ruin, and the empire of the world is transferred to some other place."

I wonder: did Adams ever foresee a unipolar world similar to the one of today? (Both my immediate and then more considerate suspicions are no) If it should ever come to pass that this empire expires, would there be residual capacity for transfer? Or has the world quite simply evolved to the point of owning our fortune? It seems interesting to me that the world has found it prudent to place upon us such incredible amounts of trust, and far less obvious, hope. But perhaps prudent is not the right word, as this level of requirement, that is, their requirement of our sustenance, has been built in effect, but not formally recognized. This is to say that this requirement was built by way of individually and in their time strategic motives, but in aggregate waxes towards dependence.

Furthermore, the ever increasing hostile environment of the international space towards the United States must only serve suffering to the marginal beneficiaries of our benevolence. If our country should happen to fall victim again, and then again, we ain't gonna be as willing to host Favorite-Hawaiian-Shirt day down at UN Headquarters - and it may come to pass that that parcel of Manhattan Island has found greater economic utility, and a lease falls un-renewed.