|
Interesting.
Empires come and go, empires shrink then re expand. Look at the British. You would have thought that having lost the American colonies the BE would be forever in decline yet some might say that it's greatest days were still to come.
The one problem with predicting the decline of the US as an Empire is that the US is not an empire built on physical conquest and in the main it was the struggle to control far flung real estate that led to the collapse of previous world leading empires. The US does not have that problem.
Where the doom merchants have it right , however, is in saying that the US has lost the moral argument. Being caught out telling fibs on too many occasions has left many inhabitants of this planet doubting pretty everything the US government says. As one who grew up believeing that the US was the symbol of emerging freedom that is a pretty disappointing outcome. Can that situation be reversed ? I doubt it very much indeed.
__________________
Greatness is not where we stand, but in what direction we are moving....we must sail, sometimes with the wind, sometimes against it, but sail we must, and not drift nor lie at anchor.- Oliver Wendell Holmes
|