First, before the accumulation of social wealth reached an absolute advantage, the United States did not take sitting on the top of the world as its national core goal. The United States became a real superpower after World War II, but before that, the United States has been vigorously advocating mercantilism, focusing on expanding reproduction and creating wealth, and taking the development of global free trade as its own responsibility. By the end of 19, the GDP of the United States has jumped to the top in the world, but the naval power is only ranked sixth, and the strength of the army is even more insignificant. However, the United States has not changed its strategy of "business first, then soldiers". Later, the important motive that prompted the United States to make a decision to participate in World War I was also to protect its superior trade position and prevent the Allies from losing their ability to repay loans after winning. President Coolidge, who came to power after the war, still said that the cause of the United States is to do business, and his focus is also on prolonging the "Coolidge prosperity" of American society. As for the United States after World War II, it really regards ensuring the hegemony it has achieved as the core goal of the country, but it is not the noblest goal.
Second, the creation, accumulation and distribution of social wealth has always been the top priority of American development. The United States has never neglected people's livelihood for US-Soviet hegemony. On the contrary, the contradiction between people's livelihood has been constantly resolved, providing conditions for its hegemony. From the development track, there are two things that have the greatest influence on the American system in the 20th century, namely, the economic crisis in the 1930s and the social and belief crisis in the 1960s. The unprecedented Great Depression gave birth to the epoch-making "Roosevelt New Deal", which laid a domestic foundation for the United States to become a global hegemon in the future. "Roosevelt's New Deal" particularly emphasized the freedom of "people from want" and confirmed that it is not only a private matter but also the responsibility of the government and powerful groups to avoid starvation of ordinary people. Therefore, the government should vigorously promote the social security mechanism, and the government should also come forward to adjust the labor-capital relationship to avoid the intensification of contradictions and restrict economic recovery. These measures enabled Americans to make progress in welfare in the 10 years after10, surpassing the achievements of their ancestors who settled in the American continent for 300 years.
If the main purpose of Roosevelt's New Deal is to ensure the basic life of ordinary people by restoring the economic vitality of the United States, then the "Great Social Plan" of the Johnson administration in the 1960s mainly focused on the fair distribution of wealth and established an American-style welfare system. At that time, the "national capacity" of the United States had been dragged down by the Vietnam War. However, the Johnson administration still chose a two-pronged approach, that is, greatly expanding foreign troops and carrying out thorough reforms at home, and put forward the famous slogan of "fighting poverty." The focus of various domestic reforms is to solve areas directly related to people's livelihood, such as racial equality, medical security, education investment, etc., and effectively resolve social contradictions in the United States.
Third, we attach importance to the accumulation of social wealth, so that the United States has never had a major social revolution and maintained long-term social stability. /kloc-the last year of the 9th century 10 was the darkest stage of American labor relations. At that time, whoever owned wealth had the body and soul of workers. The reason why the revolution did not break out in the United States was precisely because the government effectively changed the way of governance and the society adjusted itself, thus improving people's living conditions. At this stage known as the "progressive movement", then President Roosevelt did two major things: one was to restrict monopoly capital, the other was to mediate the strike of coal miners, with the aim that the government stepped forward to curb the rich and help the poor, and greatly adjusted the relevant legislation on wealth accumulation and distribution before entering the new industrialization era; The folk news movement, known as the "dung digger", also points its finger at the corruption of big consortia and the government, and its starting point is to eliminate social inequality and all kinds of evil behaviors. Although this change is gradual, it is enough to meet the needs of the country's development and growth in a stable situation.
Fourth, social wealth is the foundation of national capabilities, enabling the United States to stand out in major international events. No matter in World War I or World War II, the United States, whose military strength was far inferior to its rivals, was able to quickly create a military machine that others marveled at with its wealth after declaring war and became an unparalleled superpower after the war.
It can be seen that gradual social improvement not only helps to eliminate social unrest in the United States, but also creates conditions for the prosperity of the United States. Although the purpose of the whole social improvement is to save capitalism, the main means it relies on is to promote development, and the expected result is public recognition. As for the reason why the United States can become the world hegemon, it is only the result of wealth accumulation that other countries can't reach, and it is not a deliberate pursuit.
At present, due to the impact of the financial crisis, the national capacity of the United States is declining sharply. The fundamental reason is that there are huge problems in the distribution of social wealth. Financial oligarchs amassed wealth in "financial innovation", but ordinary people failed to benefit. Historical experience has constantly proved that when people benefit from the development of the country, the country can prosper and eventually dominate the world; On the other hand, if the people can't benefit from the development of the country, the country will eventually have a huge social crisis and will weaken its strength. The success or failure of the United States in the past century is proof. 2009-04-03 Source: Global Times Liu Weidong (scholar of American Institute of China Academy of Social Sciences)
(Editor: Lang Xianping Chinese Network)