The Denial of Decline
Is the American Empire Falling?
The Rise and Fall of Empires: Is the American Era Ending?
History teaches us that empires rise, thrive, and inevitably fall. From the Greeks and Romans to the Persians, Egyptians, and the well-documented British Empire, each was born from the ashes of another, ruling for decades or centuries before fading away. Today, we are witnessing the American Empire—an era built on capitalism—approaching its twilight.
The cracks in the foundation are becoming undeniable. Since 1978, wages for the average American worker have stagnated, while the cost of living has soared. The economy is propped up by borrowing, with credit card debt at record levels. Families are under immense financial pressure, and even students are burdened with significant debt to access higher education. Despite technological advancements boosting productivity, salaries remain flat.
The COVID-19 pandemic only exposed and worsened these vulnerabilities. Inflation is rising, and interest rates, already at 6%, could soar to 12%, a disastrous scenario for the working class. Meanwhile, wealth inequality continues to deepen as the rich grow richer and the poor struggle to get by. The American Empire, like those before it, appears to be in decline.
But what comes next? Will another superpower rise to replace the U.S.? Russia, with a GDP of just $1.5 trillion, is unlikely to fill the void, despite its military capabilities. China, however, is a different story. With a GDP of $17.5 trillion and annual growth rates of 6-9%, it is poised to overtake the U.S., whose growth has stagnated at 2%.
And what about Europe? I guess we need new leadership—leadership with the courage to step forward and embrace a radically different approach.
Thanks for reading!
Ron
Ron:
You are correct that a form of capitalism—partial secondary capitalism (PSC)—was originally the basis of the American nation. To the extent that it was able to function unimpeded, it produced the prosperity that eventually made the U.S. the most prosperous nation in history. Capitalism created the prosperity; it did not create the problems mentioned in your post. Nevertheless, it is a common fallacy to attribute those problems to capitalism. That is a superficial analysis; the real problem goes much deeper, and is hiding in plain sight.
There was never any intention that the nation would become an "empire". That was a consequence of the same problem that has continually attacked our prosperity, and is responsible for all the other societal problems you mentioned in your post.
The problem is the political state, which is mistakenly believed to be government, but is actually antithetical to true government, as it is defined in the Declaration of Independence.
You are also correct that every civilization has collapsed, and for exactly the same reason that our civilization is now in decline. Anyone who denies it is not paying attention.
Your post calls for leadership; that's a good call, but if you mean political leadership, it’s off the mark. That will not solve anything. The kind of leadership we need is not available from the political state. The political state IS the problem, and you cannot solve a problem by applying more of it. It's the equivalent of a guy pounding himself in the head with a hammer, and he believes that the remedy to his headache is to pound harder.
The analogy is precisely correct. If we keep pounding harder by doggedly refusing to give up our addiction to the belief that the solution to societal problems is giving power to people who seek to control others' lives and hope they won't abuse it, we will get exactly the same result as the guy pounding himself in the head with the hammer. Eventually, it will cure his headache...permanently. He'll be dead.
That's where our civilization is headed. And the hell of it is, no one believes it, even though exactly the same thing has happened to every other civilization that believed they could solve their problems by some form of legalized coercion of the populace. It has never worked. There are zero exceptions. It has worked for a while in the U.S. because the legalized coercion was limited by the Constitution. But those protections have been under assault since they were framed, and they are eroded with each new round of arbitrary political laws.
I agree that leadership is needed. Leadership is simply that which informs us of the difference between right and wrong, and guides to do the right thing. It's not complicated. Leadership is established by principles. Principles cannot be corrupted. Humans can be corrupted, and they absolutely WILL be corrupted by giving them power.
We cannot vote our way out of the mess we voted our way into. Voting is not the answer. Leadership is the answer, but not leadership by fallible humans who are corrupted by power. Leadership CAN come from humans, but not if they have power over the lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness that government should protect.
That's not what the counterfeit we currently call "government" does. It's not government, except in a very limited and ever-diminishing sense. And if we continue to insist on using that counterfeit to protect our unalienable rights—a purpose it has demonstrably failed to fulfill—we will get exactly what every other declining civilization got: extinction.