Some of the issues raised in the "Heroes" thread seem to make this article of interest. It's not as long (whew!) as the article in that thread but does cover the span of US history to an extent. The latter portions of the article are of particular interest to those commenting on the present US military. Someone recently posted that reality is less true to the viewer than perception. This article goes a long way to validate the point, in a historical context.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/art...declinism.html