Really. That's the premise for his column.
I skipped to the end to see how he thought we could make our one America work. It's simple, really:
Critics said of the British Labour Party of the 1960s that the Britain they were trying to build was half-Sweden and half-heaven. The alternative today to a world ordered by American power is not some cuddly multipolar system — half-Sweden and half-heaven. It is half-China and half-superempowered individuals.
Oh, wise sage, explain again how
Unless he means that the half of the world with superempowered individuals will resist a communist China that crushes individuals regardless of their power level.
Good grief. I never tire of Friedman's drivel. It is surely a character defect. I'm not saying that you couldn't drown in a pool of Thomas Friedman's wisdom. But you would have to be drunk and face down.