From the President: Youthful America

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 06 January 2004

I turned 36 yesterday. It was not a particularly remarkable event, except that I now embody a demographically significant statistic: I now represent the median age of America today. And, even more significantly, it is projected that the median age in the U.S. will hover around 36 years all the way to 2050.

This plateau of early-middle age will happen even as much of the developing world continues to get younger and the rest of the so-called developed world gets noticeably older (think "Old Europe"). By 2050 the European median age will move from 38 today to 53. Meanwhile, the developing world's massive "youth bulge" will continue to expand. The world's population will increase 18% by 2015 (from 6.1 billion to 7.2), and 95% of that growth will occur in the developing world, mostly in cities. To take just one example, Pakistan's population will increase from 145 million to 186 million.

America will be positioned between these extremes, possessing — hopefully — a collective outlook that is neither young nor old, but youthful, for the next two generations.1 Youthfulness is not defined strictly by age, but combines the best of the young (vision and vigor) with the best of the old (moderation and maturity). It is a trait that Americans must carefully nurture as they recognize, and take responsibility for, the vast power of the United States in today's world.

Everyone who has ever read about the American founding and Constitution knows that "balance" is the philosophical watchword — balance of powers, balance of majority rule and individual rights, balance of ambition and restraint, and so on. But American foreign policy is now at risk of becoming unbalanced, allowing vigor to outweigh wisdom. Americans should seize this moment of sustained demographic youthfulness to achieve a responsible youthfulness in international engagement, balancing their obligations as a superpower with the values that inform their identity. The result can be an American foreign policy that is more consistent and thus more likely to engender good will and foster holistic security.

That the U.S. possesses the vigor of a young nation (despite being the oldest liberal democracy on the planet) is beyond dispute. It is a nation of innovation, leading the world in Nobel Prize winners (three times as many as the next). Such distinctions reflect both a culture of initiative and a national commitment to spend more on research and development than any other country. America is also a nation whose fabric is woven with new people (33 million Americans were born outside of the U.S.) and new ideas (more patents are applied for each year in the U.S, than in the entire European Union, which currently has 100 million more people than the U.S.).

Institutionalized innovation and unique historical circumstances of development have yielded extraordinary power; America today is a global hegemon of unprecedented economic and military might. Since 1995, 60% of the world's economic growth has come from the U.S. Militarily, there is an overwhelming gap in power, not only with opponents (see Panama, Haiti, Serbia, Afghanistan and Iraq), but also with allies. It would be easy to conclude that Americans do what they want, simply because they can.

Exercising this kind of power, however, does not necessarily earn international respect. In fact, possession of this power can invite a dangerous muddle of arrogance and ignorance, resulting in an international backlash. While much anti-Americanism is petty jealousy, many people across the planet now tell pollsters they consider the U.S. to be the greatest threat to peace. In global politics, perception can become reality. International opposition to the U.S. is linked to the perception that Americans are brash and rash, possessing all of the worst characteristics of the young and none of the best characteristics of the old.

In order to earn global respect, Americans should steer their nation's foreign policy in the direction of responsible youthfulness, bringing all the interrelated elements of power to bear on tough problems that plague the cruelest corners of the world. Neither unchecked self-interest nor undisciplined idealism will suffice. What is needed is an ethos of service rather than supremacy.

Remember the demographics that matter. For instance, "36 years" — in America I am still relatively young, while for an average baby girl born in Sierra Leone today, 36 years is her entire life expectancy.2 AIDS-ravaged South Africa will witness the decrease of its population from 43.4 million to 38.7 million over the next 11 years, producing millions of orphans. By 2015, chronic malnutrition will increase by 20% in sub-Saharan Africa. In such environments, the educated are fleeing the places that need them most, emigrating in droves.

If America is to capitalize responsibly on its youthfulness for the next half-century, its citizens must act with more moderation and maturity, stewarding the vision and vigor of American citizenship in a global neighborhood. It will be hard work! And it begins with a servant's heart rooted in the suffering of neighbors around the world, each of whom is a child of God.

America is the 800 pound gorilla on the world stage. Its actions, or inactions, affect every major world issue. The patterns of global engagement established in the first fifteen years after 9/11 will shape international affairs for the rest of the century. The stakes are high and the time is now.

Last updated 29 November 1999