THE RISE AND FALL OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

History has taught us some hard lessons, and the study of our history has taught us wrong.  The rise of the American Empire, a term almost all Americans shun, did not come about like we've been taught to believe.  The basic parts of the settlement and building of this country are fairly close to being correct, but most history books we've been introduced to here leave out the parts about empire building.  First off, we never were the democracy we claimed to be . . . if democracy is defined as a nation where leaders are selected through a fair and properly functioning electoral system.  America has never gotten around to extending the vote to all eligible citizens.  Woman, for instance, had to struggle hard to get the right to vote, and that didn't happen until we'd been a nation for almost a century and a half.  Blacks didn't get that right until the 1960s and 70s.  The way we vote, how elections are handle, is still badly flawed.  These facts alone disqualify us as a true democracy.

But we became a powerful country with the world's best military, and we developed a thirst for world domination.  Not conquest, mind you, but domination through more subtle devices.  We've done well at this, even to the point where how we do here economically sends shock waves around the world. When we go down, almost everyone else goes down some too.  When we start wars, or get involved in them, we drag other nations into the fray.  If you study the rise and fall of other empires in world history, you find that similar patters developed here in the U.S.  We rose, and now we're declining, and that's not happening because of outside influences.  We blame the decline on just that, the outside influences, but the sickness that eventually kills most empires starts within.

We've always been international bullies.  Being good at diplomacy isn't enough to have influence over other nations, but when you operate with a backdrop of great military prowess, the diplomacy gets a big boost.  The sword is mightier than the pen.  A close study of America's military history shows that we've been involved in some kind of international intervention about once every 18 months.  One world watch organization says the U.S. has killed more innocent citizens of other nations over the past fifty or so years than any other nation in the world.  Even mild mannered and cautious Obama has sent over 500 deadly drones flying during his presidency, more than ten times the number his predecessor used.  The message is simple:  Don't fuck with us.

But here at home, we have some serious internal problems.  Our legislative branch of government, Congress, has become non-functional.  Executive power has risen, and court are bogged down and working poorly.  State and local governments do no better in most cases, and this means we're a mismanaged nation.  Taxation is burdensome on some American classes.  The top few percent of Americans dominate the financial landscape.  Our educational system is floundering, producing less competent people now.  The society is declining, moving from a middle class base to lower classes filled with ignorant people less capable of taking care of themselves.  This is a serious situation for any nation that wants to remain an empire . . . and the bottom line is that we most likely won't retain that status much longer.  The collapse of the system is not assured, but some major changes will take place.  You most often get what you deserve, and the fall from empire status, will be painful.

The old joke is that the fall doesn't hurt, but the sudden stop at the bottom sure does.  I don't think our decline will go down like that.  We'll die like all sick things, just slowly waste away and finally croak.  When that happens is anyone's guess, and that won't be a good thing for anyone.  We may be despised internationally, but they're going to miss us.  Perhaps the time has come for all nations of the world to do like any considerate person would do with a sick friend, gather around and do what they can to nurse them back to health.  But it needs to be like a physician tending to a desperately ill patient, saying the words, "You have caused your own illness, and you must change.  If you don't adopt a more healthy lifestyle and take better care of yourself, you will surely die.  I'm here to help you change, and the choice is up to you."