by David Thill

Created on: November 03, 2010   Last Updated: November 06, 2010

In many ways, for those of us from western societies that share most of the same ideals and principles as the United States of America, their unique combination of vast economic and military power matched with a political system specifically designed to prevent it being used effectively makes them the ideal leader of world politics.

Despite the morass into which they have wandered in Iraq and Afghanistan, nobody would deny that the United States is unmatched in the world in their ability to project modern, effective, military power. With only the exception of a couple of the largest, most modern and populous states (China, to a lesser extent Russia), the United States has the power to quickly eliminate organized, armed opposition in virtually any country in the world. Sharing as they do a huge, resource-rich continent with the two military pygmies of Canada and Mexico, the United States is secure at home from conventional attack.

The United States also has the largest and most diverse economy on the planet. People from all over the world dream of emigrating to America for the opportunities it offers them and their families. Some of the highest paying, most skilled jobs; some of the best and most advanced schools; some of the smartest and most talented inventors, scientists, artists and business people: the United States has them all. The mere threat of imposing visa restrictions, or suggesting limitations on trade, is more than enough to give most nations in the world pause. The United States does not need to threaten to use their military power when their economic might is so unmatched.

The core values of the people of the United States of America are also relatively unthreatening to most westerners. Although they are unusually religious compared to the rest of the west, their reassuring religious diversity is unthreatening, as they clearly are unlikely to form some universal church and try to impose it on the rest of the world. Americans loudly proclaim their believe in the freedom of democratic institutions of government and free market institutions in the economy, calming fears that they might seek direct political or economic hegemony over neighboring nations. Those times when the United States does intervene directly in other countries, they feel the need to justify their actions to the world based on ideology.

Finally, the best characteristic of such a powerful country is its inability to direct its power effectively in any but the direst of cases. The

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