Actually, I was just thinking it's odd that we didn't learn more about China. I mean, it was nothing like now, but it was definitely a world power even then. Main thing we learned is how you guys screwed them in the Opium Wars and we screwed them with the Open Door Policy (actually, that was more like a gang bang, but it was our idea. ) Frankly, I can't blame China for distrusting the West.

Fact is, as you're probably suspect, my formal public education about countries that aren't America or Britain was very general. A year of world history in 5th and 10th grades, plus a social studies and maps class in 6th; that's about it. I'm pretty sure I learned more about other nations history reading my Encyclopedia Americana in my free time, and thank God for that.

Naturally we focus most on our own history; it has the most immediate relevance. But we do study other countries somewhat, especially the most influential ones. And it's entirely possible we're frequently missing the proper focus when we do that. What do you think's more relevant to a US soldier in Iraq today, the Hanging Gardens, or the British occupation after the Great War? Guess which one he probably learned about in school.

And I wouldn't count us out just yet; we still have tremendous labor, industrial, agricultural and natural resources. All we have to do is overcome our epidemic of raging insanity.