This is a loose thought that I am not going to develop. Though I could imagine myself getting deep into research to prove my argument, I do not think such a project would be safe to proceed with given the current climate in the United States. However, I did want to introduce this idea. This is not a new idea for me, at least not in general terms. While I have never so concretely stated to myself, if the United States falls as a superpower in the world, money itself might just lose its value among humanity, I have considered that despite China’s human rights abuses, they have the potential to grow beyond them, learn from their mistakes, and become a comforting nation.
Let’s backtrack a little. I had studied just to what extreme degree China’s human rights violations ran while I was a student of human rights in Myanmar. I was active and involved in supporting ethnic Burmese refugees. But that is another story. I spent years studying Burma/Myanmar and I will say at the time I was an expert. Things have wildly changed in Myanmar, and I would not say I am an expert any longer. I do not know to what extent the old guard techniques have been maintained, at least not for certain. What I can tell you is that every so often in my regular readings I include a book on China. Now I am not an expert on China, but I do have a feel for their history, traumatic experiences, and culture.
How does this involve me personally? While I was experiencing one of my psychotic breaks, I was having a conversation with God. God directed me to move plants and flowers in the yard and even to put grass in the mailbox (the mail person didn’t seem to like that). I wrote a poem based on that experience and conversation. The idea of the poem is that the United States is too proud to accept help, to learn from her mistakes, and to become a bridge to the downtrodden. However, China can learn from her mistakes and become a beacon of hope. This is a difficult conversation to have become both countries and regular human rights abusers. However, as I mentioned after reading Odd Arne Westad, China is a community of the land. A Righteous Nation. This is a historical-cultural ideology. The United States is not. It is not our land anyways. China can understand what individual integrity means. It is ingrained within their traditional culture and that is a culture they are not going to give up. The United States cannot see past the powerful maintaining that power.
So, what does this say? I would venture to theorize that is the United States were to fall as a world power there is the possibility that a pressure valve may be released. It is not a hard strength to imagine many parts of Europe quick to abolish currency and that would put pressure on the EU and other hesitant European nations. China would become the dominate power, but they would not forget their culture of the land, culture of the community, culture of the personhood of collectiveness. I think they may just reform and abolish currency themselves. Where would that leave a fallen United States? We would not like it, but we would have nowhere to go, but to join the international community and abolish currency ourselves.
Now, please understand, I am not advocating that individuals take action to bring down the United States, even if that were possible, which it is not. However, this theory does make sense to my given what I understand of capitalism, the United States, and China as a culture of the collectivism and the land. As I said, I will not be developing this idea further. I just don’t feel it is safe.