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I agree with much of what the article in your link said, that in general America is still ascending, I guess that is a good way to summarize what it said. Decline is often talked about in various circles, but America has only become more powerful over time and I don't believe our power is waning.
However, as a contrast I offer this ...
We do have a values problem in America. And I don't mean drugs, drinking, and crap like that. I mean that more and more people have forgotten what freedom really is. I feel that I talk with very few people that say they feel free, that say they feel that they are in control of their own destiny, and feel that they are powerful and are free to act.
There are of course people out there who talk in terms of this being their country, that they need to change things themselves, that they feel responsible for whatever is going on, etc. But that is rare now, and in great contrast to the huge number of people who seem to feel like they are subjects of another power, or that someone else should do something about whatever the problem of the day is, etc. It is natural for children and young adults to feel they are actors in a world that is not under their control, but by the time you hit like 30 years old at least I think it's normal to feel that you are pretty much one of the men who is actually running things, and that if anything needs fixing you'll be one of the ones that is going to fix it. I just don't see that in people now for the most part, it's like people have become eternal children waiting for their mommy to fix everything for them. I mostly just hear people complaining like they aren't part of the team anymore, like they are spectators watching something on television that has nothing to do with them, like they are just visitors here in the United States. I don't understand that at all, and there is a lot of it out there.
Much of this attitude does contribute in a positive way to American power in the world. The less people take responsibility for their own government, the more power can become centralized. If 9 out of 10 people aren't paying any attention, then 1 in 10 people are actually running the place. And that centralization of power does create a more powerful America. Whether it creates a better America is a matter of debate.
When soldiers came back from World War II there was a different mindset. They had suffered and fought for the country and participated directly in Americas success and failure. Soldiers returning from the war OWNED this country, nobody told them they were going to do this, or they were going to do that, they really felt that they themselves were the ones who were going to come back and build houses, roads, schools, etc, and the late 40's and early 50's were a boom time for development. Returning soldiers didn't say things like "somebody should build a road over there", they put together an organization and said "let's go build a road over there", and just did it. If a community center was needed, they just built it. Today the air is much different - people don't do that anymore. Many people feel that they have been born into a world that isn't really theirs, I think in large part because there hasn't been the kind of adversity (thankfully) that forces people to take responsibility for what is going on.
I'm not saying that a dumbed down public will eventually yield a Caesar that is hell bent on world domination, but I am saying that a wildly powerful America might not be the best America, and might be indicative of a problem. If that power comes from run away taxation, centralization of power into the hands of very few (government and commercial), funneling of wealth to a very few hands, etc, then I don't think that's a good thing. Sure, America could be even more powerful if we were all just little worker bees and we had a king to direct all our efforts into one common direction ... but that isn't what America is supposed to be all about.
Democrats and Republicans both realize this is going on. Democrats say there are "two Americas", one for poor folks and one for rich, blah blah blah. And Republicans say that is because people don't take personal responsibility and blah blah blah. But what is really going on is that power is being centralized into fewer hands, and most people are taking less responsibility for what happens in this country. And even people who really do want to do something about it don't seem to get any traction because the mindset has been dumbed down to the point that anybody who does actually care looks like a fanatic, people can't even understand the concept of trying to affect change anymore. Most people seem to believe it's unfixable, and even the most die hard of the progressives on all sides often end up throwing their hands in the air and giving up because for the most part people just don't seem to give a sh#t.
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