Competition

     In the United States, our culture fosters the expectation that growth, economic and otherwise, is constant. In the past twenty or thirty years, however, we have seen less innovation than during any other period of time in the last century. What is the common denominator? What is different now?
     Last Friday, I was listening to Fareed Zakaria give a speech about the infinitely repeating cycle of rise, peak, decline, crisis in civilizations and how it relates to actual threats to our society and economy. What struck me was how he identified that one of the greatest issues that our nation currently faces is the lack of international competition. He stated that competition is the principal force that drives the growth of a nation. Without it, we have little incentive to change and innovate. This is when I realized that the Cold War may have been the best thing that happened to the United States in the past sixty years.
     Like most people, when I thought about the Cold War, the first things that came to mind were the widespread paranoia of nuclear proliferation and the wonderfully cheesy black-and-white anti-communist propaganda videos.
     What I found is more important is the innovation that was spurred by our competition with the Soviet Union. The end of the Second World War was the starting block for a race between nations that was to last over forty years. The two nations were in fierce competition. The fear of potential confrontation fueled rapid positive changes in nearly all aspects of American society and government.
     The Marshall Plan of 1948 was a massive change in US diplomacy. The funding of the reconstruction of crumbled European countries was intended to prevent Europeans from falling into poverty and turning to communism. This brilliant foreign aid packaged accomplished the stabilization of democracies throughout Western Europe and the growth of the global economy by providing a solid foundation for various markets.
     The Soviets' successful launch of Sputnik was a shock to the American people. It gave the United States a major incentive to fund improvements in math, science, and physical education. The satellite also motivated the federal government to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which was to subsequently launch successful missions to the Moon.
     Communist uprisings around the world pushed the government to rethink its military strategies, focusing more on small-scale operations and less on more traditional large battles.
     Without competition, our nation will maintain a slow rate of innovation and creativity. It is safe to say that, without the Cold War, the United States would be much worse off.