America’s Role in the New World Order with Natalie Smolenski - WBD613

Natalie Smolenski is an Executive Director of the Texas
Bitcoin Foundation and a Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy
Institute. In this interview, we discuss why America needs to
be re-found. We talk about the self-destructive impacts of
striving for supremacy, what the American project stands for,
trying to build solidarity across the divide, and the
importance of Bitcoin.


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The great irony of the twentieth century is that in winning
the cold war America has lost its way. Far from the defeat of
the Soviet Union being a stepping stone to cementing US
hegemonic power, within a generation, we are seeing a
fracturing of the global order and the decline of western
liberal democracies. The importance of the American dream as
a projection of soft power has waned.


In the face of a multi-polar world and a wave of significant
issues that need urgent action, politicians are losing
confidence in trying to win the battle of ideas. The race
seems to be about winning the battle of technology without
going bankrupt. Optimism and hope have been replaced by cold
strategic pragmatism.


Endless wars have dulled Americans’ enthusiasm for being that
shining city on the hill. But, is this myopic thinking? The
long lens of history shows that the projection of America as
a beacon of hope was through manifestations of the principles
of liberty, equality and justice on which the country was
founded. America became a magnet for the strivers of the
world. Can it become so again?


What is clear is that prior to renewing its confidence as a
global power that champions freedom, America needs to heal
the domestic divides. A nation needs to be united internally
if it is to thwart external threats. This means finding new
ways to engage and identifying new leaders to take ideas
forward. It also means embracing again the old ways of
thinking: that America’s “glory is not dominion, but
liberty.”