2020: America’s Year of Decision

After decades of debate America is about to be forced to decide who we are

When the year 2020 is reviewed by future generations it will be seen as a pivotal year in American history. The next 12 months is going to force us to clearly announce to ourselves and the world who we are. For the last two decades we have struggled to balance being the benign leader of the world and a wounded superpower still fighting against the ghosts of 9/11. This has led to increasing polarization at home over the very definition of America itself. Whether it is couched in terms of isolationism versus globalism, or liberals versus conservatives, America will no longer be able to avoid answering a key question: who are we?

Before 9/11 America was committed to being ‘the leader of the free world’. Fresh off victory in the Cold War we sought to create a New World Order built on the promotion of democracy, human rights, and free trade. From Mogadishu to Baghdad there was uncertainty, argument, and miscalculation over what we were doing. But there was little disagreement within the country or around the world as to why we were doing it, who we were, and what our role was in the world. 9/11 was an earthquake that fractured that understanding at home and abroad. And America’s hurt and confusion were summed up by the question that echoed throughout the country in the weeks following the…