John Stewart interviews Oren Cass: American Cluelessness.

I’m a big fan of Jon Stewart, and I watched his recent interview with Oren Cass (see here). While it was interesting, I was surprised Jon couldn’t point to any clear examples of American “soft power.” Maybe it’s hard to recognize this from inside the US, given its advantages. It is easy for the rest of us. Let me spell it out for Americans.

1- Look at the military bases. America has many in Germany (over 40, I think?) and lots more across Europe and the world. This setup lets America send troops almost anywhere globally very fast. You might call the agreements for these bases “soft power,” but the result is that the US can easily use its military strength anywhere, not just protect allies. It feels less like Americans protecting Germans and more like Americans being able to intervene wherever they want on short notice.

2- When US takes the world on a catastrophic adventure, you get support from allies. Remember the Iraq war? Even though countries like France warned it was a bad idea, America did it anyway (remember the “liberty fries”). Many important allies still supported the US in that disastrous war. Afterwards, the world had to deal with ISIS, partly because US actions created a power vacuum in the Middle East. Europe then had to handle huge waves of immigrants because of these policies. This shows US influence gets support, even when its plans end up hurting allies.

3- Most world trade uses US dollars. Just think about that. US government debt is also in dollars. If the US ever decided its debt to China was a problem, they can just print 3 bazillion dollars and pay it off. No other country has this power because most international debts have to be paid in dollars.

4- All around the world, countries pass draconian intellectual property laws in service of American Industries. They fine and jail their citizens for pirating Hollywood movies. If they didn’t care about US soft power, they wouldn’t bother. US manages to shift legal structure in these countries through their soft power, in ways that are detrimental to citizenry, but fatten the wallets of US software and movie industry.

That is off the top of my head. It wasn’t so hard John Stewart. I am disappointed in you (though I am still a fan).

Regarding Oren Cass’s point about the American right rethinking economics, it feels both hopeful and scary. I’ve been skeptical about neoliberal economic policies. I think the free market is less an economic theory, and more a dogma at this point. So, it’s hopeful if the right is finally open to discussing different economic approaches, maybe dropping their strong belief in ideas like “supply-side economics.” Perhaps this opens the door for the left and Democrats to push harder for policies that help workers. The Democrats have often been a disappointment on the economy if you wanted something other than free market dogma; for decades, it felt like both parties basically agreed on the economic policy and that there was no room for discussion.

But I also worry that the right’s new plans will just be another way to make the very rich even richer, instead of truly building a strong middle class. It can bring the bad old days, like the Gilded Age or the Roaring Twenties, where a few got incredibly wealthy while many struggled.