Race Relations and America as a Superpower

This idea grew out of a conversation I was having with my dad.  He mentioned something very interesting about the difference between China and America which made him feel quite secure that America is not in any immediate danger to lose its position as a global superpower.  The idea is simple: the Chinese don't really care if China does well, they care if the Chinese do well.

Being Chinese, Korean, Indian, Kenyan, or Italian has much more to do with your ethnic heritage, not necessarily where you were born and have a citizenship.  So if a Chinese person emigrates from China to another country to become successful, then that is still considered a win for the Chinese and, in a sense, for China as well.  Koreans generally think in this way too.  This is where America's strength comes in.

Take a look at our Olympic team.  No other country has the diversity of ethnic groups that we do.  In fact, I think that is why we are able to do relatively well compared to China, a country with more than four times our population and much stricter training regimens facilitated by human rights violations.  The other countries are only good at a handful of events: Jamaica for track, South Korea for archery, Canada for skating.  Also, take a look at our international math and science Olympiads where we have many Asians representing the US.  Also, our major cities are more ethnically and culturally diverse than any other countries'.

However, a couple of things we need to improve upon are our immigration and tariff policies.  In the long run, we will be better off if we were more accepting of foreigners and foreign goods.  Improving both would create more competition in the marketplace that can help drive down costs and improve total economic surplus.  We will be able to get the best goods and services for the best price, and will force domestic producers to become more efficient and productive and consumers will benefit from lower prices and higher quality.

We live in a very special place where you can be born in the country and automatically gain citizenship and the ability to become the leader of the free world.  We went through many difficult hurdles to lessen the racial tensions that have been around since the founding of our nation but they were all stepping stones for us to improve our moral and economic prosperity.  We need to continue improving America's race relations to keep us ahead of every other prospective superpower.  If we don't, then I'm betting on China to be the next global economic powerhouse for years to come.