The American Empire has already peaked and is on the downhill slide.

[Hohn]

The power of nostalgia aside, if we're on the downhill slide we're still the place most of the world wants to get to. If you think it sucks here grab your passport and live abroad for a few years. You'll either gain perspective or you'll find somewhere better. Either way, you win.

This.

America is in decline because we as people are declining, and our government reflects that.

But we are still head and shoulders above much of the world, and we'd have to fall still a good bit further to merely be *as bad* as most any other place you can go.

 

[seedubs1]

I almost think we're just going to turn into Southern Canada.....

This.

America is in decline because we as people are declining, and our government reflects that.

But we are still head and shoulders above much of the world, and we'd have to fall still a good bit further to merely be *as bad* as most any other place you can go.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

People who spend too much time *****ing about how bad they have it, are handicapping their ability to ever improve their lot in life.

Do or do not, there is no try.

And

There is no crying in baseball!

 

[Jludo]

This.

America is in decline because we as people are declining, and our government reflects that.

But we are still head and shoulders above much of the world, and we'd have to fall still a good bit further to merely be *as bad* as most any other place you can go.

We may be declining but other nations are doing better. Our height was coming off everyone else's lows. I don't think being born in America makes you any better, I think there were more opportunities but that's going away.

 

[Colt]

By one measure, and the one I think is the most important single measure, our country peaked in May/June 1953. The measure is the minimum in the unemployment rate (before its definition was changed to make it meaningless). At that time the unemployment rate was 2.5%. Labor was in demand. People were busy working at productive jobs or studying hard in school for the good jobs they knew would be theirs someday. Companies offered benefits like health insurance and defined benefit pension plans because they had to in order compete for workers. People had hope for the future. Most people had little time to experiment with drugs and didn't needed to commit crimes to feed their drug habits, or figure out out to game the welfare system. As has been pointed out we have a lot of nice advantages today that people didn't have in those days. But our leaders should quit legislating so many regulations and taxes that kill business and the jobs they produce. Put people back to work at productive jobs (being a government bureaucrat doesn't really count) and we would have a lot less problems in this country.

 

[indiucky]

Hmmmmm.....you're right, the rolley eyes comes across meaner than intended. And no, I'm not actually waiting for your generation to die. Just waiting for your political poll to become less than relevant, which is beginning to happen.

Well I did chain smoke three cigarettes to try to hurry things along for you...

The fact that we were saddled with Obama for eight years shows our political pull is already weakening so be careful what you wish for...There is a whole generation coming up that wants "free" things and eventually us geezers will get tired of paying for it and just cut our losses, grab our savings and head for the hills to spend our last days in peace. Sitting on the porch, firing shotguns into the air while listening to Merle Haggard and REM records....YEAH RECORDS!!!! Google it....

Now let me tell you about the man I first voted for...A fellow by the name of Ronald Reagan who once...........................Sorry I lost my train of thought...Where's my slippers? Turn off that rap music...No not Sugar Hill Gang, the other stuff....

I was born in 1964...I am either the last of the boomers or the first of Gen X...But above all...I am a proud American...Here's a little clip done by a fellow geezer you might enjoy or at least give you a grin....He's actually older than me.....

[video=youtube;09q04Dlh7r8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09q04Dlh7r8[/video]

 

[seedubs1]

Where did you steal my retirement plan from? I intend to do this in less than 10 years. Working on buying a plot of land in the Appalacians currently, and driving a beater old truck so that I can sock away the vast majority of my paycheck.

eventually us geezers will get tired of paying for it and just cut our losses, grab our savings and head for the hills to spend our last days in peace. Sitting on the porch, firing shotguns into the air while listening to Merle Haggard

 

[BogWalker]

This is just what a modern empire looks like. Can't expect an empire to look like Great Britain centuries ago.

I would agree with this.

I'd say it's pretty safe to term us empire, even now. We patrol the world's oceans. We're the largest world economy. Our currency is the reserve currency of a large part of the world. We're still the main driving source of technological innovation. Our culture is massively spreading across the world. We don't have the largest military, but we've got more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.

While it may not be to the extent it was a few decades ago, the fact remains that the United States is still the leader of the free world. Our land holdings may not cover a fourth of the Earth, but our influence is heavily exerted over the greater part of it. If that's not an empire then we're not likely to see one again.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I used the term "American Empire" on purpose because for a time, the world looked to us for leadership in the causes of freedom, democracy and security. It was a time when Reagan described us as the "Shining City on a Hill" The country had united during WWI and WWII to free first Europe and then the World from fascism and tyranny. The Marshall Plan and Japanese occupation restored hope and built foundations of peace and democracy that have lasted 70 years. We stood in the breech during the Cold War to stop the spread of communist oppression. We then looked inward and came together during the civil rights movement to end racial divide in our country. Even 9/11 was a traumatic event that unified our country for a while.

As a country, we certainly are not perfect. Vietnam, the assassinations of MLK, JFK, RFK, Malcolm X, Watergate, and the legacy of Joseph McCarthy, are just some of the stains upon our national character. But in the long view, there was always hope. We knew that if things got so bad, or the system we lived under got so out of whack, that we as a country could unite and change the direction we were going in. We also knew that if our leadership got too corrupt, that the system would hold them accountable.

Unfortunately, we now live in a system of divide and control. The political leadership, the media, and big business all practice this form of coercion upon the lower and middle class. The primary example is an untouchable senior political leader running for the highest office in the land. As Secretary of State, she willfully and scornfully broke the law regarding the security of classified information. Yet she feigns innocence while the media plays along like nothing happened. It is ironic that big brother sucks up our every text and click on the internet, but somehow slow walks an order from a Federal Judge for her email records. She also deliberately circumvented accountability of communication relating to government business. Yet she is free to proceed in her quest for the White House, in the luxury that big media and the Justice department will look the other way. The whole time, a large segment of our country cheers her on like a progressive messiah.

Nixon would have been tried, convicted, hung, drawn and quartered for such heavy handed violation of the laws. Unfortunately, in today's world, accountability is a dim dream of the little guy.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I would agree with this.

I'd say it's pretty safe to term us empire, even now. We patrol the world's oceans. We're the largest world economy. Our currency is the reserve currency of a large part of the world. We're still the main driving source of technological innovation. Our culture is massively spreading across the world. We don't have the largest military, but we've got more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.

While it may not be to the extent it was a few decades ago, the fact remains that the United States is still the leader of the free world. Our land holdings may not cover a fourth of the Earth, but our influence is heavily exerted over the greater part of it. If that's not an empire then we're not likely to see one again.

And all that talk about this century being China's century is crap. There's only two ways to take down the top dog: Militarily, or ruin their economy. Neither is likely to happen, without throwing the planet into chaos.

 

[BogWalker]

And all that talk about this century being China's century is crap. There's only two ways to take down the top dog: Militarily, or ruin their economy. Neither is likely to happen, without throwing the planet into chaos.

China is rising meteorically, but they're basically rising off of rock bottom. As well that rise is based on an export economy. US economy shrinks, China loses money. We may have a trade deficit with them but make no mistake they're dependent on that deficit. We stop spending, they stop growing. If they stopped supplying cheap crap we'd just find somewhere else to buy it.

 

[Kutnupe14]

China is rising meteorically, but they're basically rising off of rock bottom. As well that rise is based on an export economy. US economy shrinks, China loses money. We may have a trade deficit with them but make no mistake they're dependent on that deficit. We stop spending, they stop growing. If they stopped supplying cheap crap we'd just find somewhere else to buy it.

It won't be China's century because they have nowhere to go, and no influence to give..... unless they DRASTICALLY change their policies. They've invested heavily in Africa, but they are (the govt) atheists, which has never gone over well there.

 

[seedubs1]

I also just don't see their culture and influence catching on in other countries.

It won't be China's century because they have nowhere to go, and no influence to give..... unless they DRASTICALLY change their policies. They've invested heavily in Africa, but they are (the govt) atheists, which has never gone over well there.

 

[jamil]

I would agree with this.

I'd say it's pretty safe to term us empire, even now. We patrol the world's oceans. We're the largest world economy. Our currency is the reserve currency of a large part of the world. We're still the main driving source of technological innovation. Our culture is massively spreading across the world. We don't have the largest military, but we've got more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.

While it may not be to the extent it was a few decades ago, the fact remains that the United States is still the leader of the free world. Our land holdings may not cover a fourth of the Earth, but our influence is heavily exerted over the greater part of it. If that's not an empire then we're not likely to see one again.

Those traits you list are not exclusive to empires. If we declare that the US is an empire it is only in a figurative sense. And the outcome of that notwithstanding, I think it's more valuable to discuss the decline, the causes, and solutions, rather than trying to decide if we're an empire or not.

 

[indiucky]

Where did you steal my retirement plan from? I intend to do this in less than 10 years. Working on buying a plot of land in the Appalacians currently, and driving a beater old truck so that I can sock away the vast majority of my paycheck.

A 93 Ford F 150 and a 120 year old frame farm house on creek rock???? That is a hillbilly IRA brother...

 

[oldpink]

How do you figure that there's no American Empire?

Thanks for perfectly exemplifying exactly what Hough's point was.
You never disappoint.

 

[oldpink]

This will be controversial to say, but part of our problem is that we slew the dragon (Soviet Union), which made the dichotomy between good and evil harder to delineate for the last nearly thirty years now.
We, and the rest of the world with us, just basically sat back and believed that evil wouldn't emerge anew, that even if it did, we would quickly stomp it out, even while religious fanatics schemed quietly, then put their plans into motion.
Even now, we lack the resolve, or even the ability, to define it for what it is.
Making matters worse, China is creating artificial islands in the South China Sea, annexing it nearly overnight, and we aren't sending entire task groups through the area to assert that those are international waters.
Then, we have a Russia headed by a megalomaniac whose greatest desire is to reconstitute the Soviet Union, except this time come out on top of Cold War Part Deux, and again, we just shrug and keep our noses in our "reality" TV crap.

 

[Jludo]

Thanks for perfectly exemplifying exactly what Hough's point was.
You never disappoint.

That's what I'm here for.

 

[Leadeye]

Meh, down the road there will be a civil war in China and for a while the boats will stop which will send a jolt of inflation and shortages through this country the likes of which have never been seen. It will get sorted out eventually, I'll just be curious to see what side leadership in this country supports.

 

[JS1911]

We are swiftly going the way of Rome. And for the same reasons. Thanks to woefully ignorant leftist dullards being in charge of the education system, students learn NOTHING about anything that didn't happen in their lifetime, never-mind 1600 years ago. All they do learn is stupid, nonsensical crap like "White Privilege", "Socialism Is Awesome", and "White Men Are To Blame For ALL Of The World's Ills."

And then these special snowflakes who are qualified to be nothing more than Mop-Jockeys and French Fried Potato Procurement Technicians are stupid enough to wonder why their degree in Liberal Arts is worth less then toilet paper.