America Not in Decline

[ICantSpellDawg]

It has seemed to me for some time that rather than the old adage "All Empires fall", it would be far more apt to say "All Empires think they are falling."

Take for instance Rome; Even before the Republic fell, there are writers like Sallust who hammered on about moral decline and how the old days were better and, when the Republic and later the Empire fell, people nodded sagely and said "Ah yes, our morality has slipped. Such is the way of Empire." Let's face it, nostalgia for an earlier, simpler time is a pretty strong motivator for a great many people and this is just an extension of that. In reality, their morality was not slipping and any person who held that opinion today would be roundly ridiculed. But reality matters little to people who are observing the past looking for evidence of why their perceived present is so poor.

Those Americans who claim that America is 'falling' are just saying what seems obvious to them with their nostalgia-tinted glasses. They are just saying it differently (though people do still hammer on and on about moral decline). In this case they are just putting it within the modern discourse that makes sense to them - they are seeking out statistics and figures that seem to confirm their view, nodding sagely and saying "Ah yes, our economy has slipped. Such is the way of Empire." The statistics don't back them up, but that matters little because it isn't the statistics that are confirming their worldview - it is their view of a past where America was on top of the world.

Fine, so it is all perspective and we actually do not have any insurmountable problems as a nation. I just hope that the pessimism lasts for a few more months, since the U.S. is in such great shape and all and will probably never be in decline, so no real risk. If we can win the narrative in an election year that the country is going to hell in a hand-basket, we win. The administration will be serving up alot of red meat for the voters, it is already almost palpable, so if we just deny him every opportunity at success and it works, we will do well. I personally believe that the Congress serves more of a purpose at this stage in our national development in opposing as many Federal initiatives as possible anyway, so why not hyper-target the ones that the President puts out there which are almost sure to be wrongheaded. If a problem really is big enough, absolute Federal failure to resolve it may cause individuals and States to give it a shot instead of just fawning over a (perceived only, of course) failed Presidency.