Guest Opinion: The once superpower mired in political incompetence: Why reforms are difficult in the U.S.

by Xin Ping
As Election Day draws near in the United States, some commentators remarked that the United States is plunging into “trash time,” referring to the chaotic election campaigns and the country’s lack of governance. Some others said that the United States has officially entered the “silly season” of politics, with the Republican and Democratic candidates resorting to the vilest rhetoric conceivable to defame and assail each other.
As the title of NPR television program “The Left, The Right, The Disillusioned” indicates, the U.S. elections have laid bare the irrevocable plight in the United States — a society agonizingly torn apart by political polarization and chaos.
While American politicians are preoccupied with canvassing for votes, effectively sidelining governance, China is taking reform to the next level by implementing the over 300 reform policies promulgated at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. As Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao newspaper notes, no other country in today’s world has managed to advance its reform agenda as comprehensively and effectively as China.
The contrast couldn’t be more pronounced.
The United States needs more than reforms. Its floundering economy, dysfunctional governance, and acute social issues all call for overhauling the U.S. system. However, the once-vaunted “world’s greatest democracy” is caught in the doldrums of incompetence, making it difficult to enact meaningful reforms.
The United States is no longer in a position of strength.
Though the last thing U.S. politicians want to see is the West’s eroding influence, economic indicators suggest that such a trend is inescapable. According to the IMF, from 2001 to 2021, the GDP of developed countries as a share of the global total, sank from 78 percent to 59 percent, while that of emerging markets and developing countries nearly doubled from 21 percent to 41 percent, contributing an impressive 80 percent of global growth.
China is rapidly closing the economic gap with the United States. Over the past three decades, instead of collapsing as some in the West predicted in the 1990s, the Chinese economy has expanded 50-fold.
These developments indicate that the United States is losing its economic supremacy. It is no longer the sole hyperpower in the post-Cold War era but an aging man caught between a rock and a hard place. And the rock is its anemic economy.
The United States is no longer at the forefront of global development.
As we transition into the fourth industrial revolution characterized by shifts from fossil fuels to low-carbon energy and advancements from internet technologies to digital intelligence, major power competition is expanding beyond traditional domains into new frontiers. Cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and renewable energy are reshaping global political and economic landscape at an unprecedented pace.
In its relentless pursuit to curtail China’s ascent, Washington has adopted a “small yard, high fences” strategy aimed at decoupling and derisking from China despite the limitations of its domestic market, fragile supply chains, and the hollowing out of its industrial base. However, this approach may ultimately backfire on itself. While Chinese firms like Huawei have emerged more resilient amid U.S.-imposed sanctions and restrictions.
The United States faces yet more stagnation elsewhere. In outer space, NASA postponed its plan to get the United States back to the moon before China arrived. And Boeing’s troubled Starliner failed to transport astronauts back from space station missions safely. When China made history retrieving fresh lunar soil samples from the moon’s far side, the United States again resorted to its “sour grapes” rhetoric. However, it seemed to have forgotten its Wolf Amendment, which was enacted in 2011 and prohibited NASA’s use of federal funds for bilateral cooperation with Beijing.
To maintain its sole superpower status, the United States is blindfolded in its attempts to obstruct and contain China’s technological ascent. However, it has resulted in a lose-lose scenario because closing itself off from trade and cooperation simultaneously excludes vast opportunities and undermines its own industries.
The United States is no longer a shining example of democracy.
With the Democrats and Republicans representing opposing interest groups and promoting divergent economic agendas, frictions and disagreements between the two political parties have become more entrenched and deep-rooted. They are more preoccupied with battling each other than addressing pressing issues, resulting in an increasingly divided American society. Consensus, the crucial element for effective reform, is missing. Thus, with U.S. policy decisions increasingly influenced by various interest groups, any proposed reform may inflict pain upon and face strong resistance from approximately half of the population.
In a nutshell, the U.S. democracy is unreformable.
For those who hold fast to the “American dream,” it may be difficult to acknowledge that America is no longer regarded as the “shining city on a hill” but as a nation teetering on the precipice.
The world is changing perpetually; it never stands still. As an old Chinese proverb states, “A man of wisdom adapts to the changes; a man of knowledge acts according to circumstances.” Blaming others won’t address U.S. domestic woes. Stemming another country’s development or holding the world hostage won’t make the United States great again.

Editor’s note: The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, CGTN, Global Times, China Daily, etc. He can be reached at [email protected].
The views expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency.