"an American general at the time expressed the desire that Germans would henceforth be a “nation of shepherds”, incapable of playing a major part in world affairs—yet shortly after the war’s end, it was well on its way to accomplishing the Wirtschaftswunder, the economic miracle that it maintains to this day. Japan arose the ashes in a similar fashion. And the United States…the country that for the entire postwar period served as a source of aspiration for people the world over, a model of domestic stability and good governance, and a guarantor of its allies’ military security, is now riven by toxic political discord and stands at the brink of social collapse."