Signs That The America Is Collapsing

All governments evolve and die because human organization suffers from corruption and inefficiency. Political systems die when they can no longer govern. when that happens, the political system changes into something else. Polybius the Greek philosopher said that governments go in cycles: republic, democracy, anarchy, aristocracy, monarchy and around again.

The US is a young nation still, compared to other nations. There are major regional differences (ex: the Southern US is quite different than the Northeastern US) and political polarization is at an all time high, save perhaps the US Civil War.

The American middle class is facing a declining standard of living and real wages, relative to costs are in decline. Inequality has dramatically grown and it does seem like the political system is incapable of addressing these issues.

Other long term challenges, such as the decline in US infrastructure, education, global warming, are also left unaddressed, and in many cases, politicians deny that they are even problems to begin with.

At present, the US political system seems to be very unresponsive to the challenges of the US. It has been argued before that the US is in a “pre-revolutionary” state by both the left and the right. The political system has been captured by a small elite, who are running it for its own benefit.

In that regard, I think that the comparisons to Rome are a bit more apt than people may otherwise think.

• Declining real standards of living for the majority of the population
• Gross inequality that weakens the legitimacy of society
• Very high military expenditures (note the high expenditures compared to other Western nations as well)
• A government system that serves special interests
• Like Rome, the US has very serious economic problems – apart from inequality, I would rank trade deficits as one of the highest problems
• Very high political polarization – perhaps the current Rural Republican/Urban Democratic Divide could lead to an Western/Eastern Roman split
• Each region is distinct (while there is a dominant common language – English for the US and Latin for Ancient Rome), there are growing regional differences in political outlook – at this point the US may not have a Cesar ordering the nation split, but it could very well happen someday
• The US does not have anything like the plagues that Rome suffered from, but it is suffering from obesity, opioids, rising alcoholism, and a number of other health crises, indicating a declining level of health
• A case could be made that the decline of the family farm is alarmingly like the rise of Latifundia in Rome and indeed, the decline of entrepreneurship as a whole in favor of more concentrated wealth

Analogies are never perfect. There is nothing quite like the Attila the Hun, nor the level of military opposition that Ancient Rome faced (Ex: the Parthian Empire in what is now modern day Iran).

Like Ancient Rome, the US is currently the dominant power (there were other nations of course in Rome’s time, such as the Han Dynasty, the various empires in what is now Iran, etc), but there are challenges. There is no military that could do the type of damage like the sacking of Rome by the Visigoths, although if a future US finds itself in nuclear war … I suppose all bets are off.

I think that if a truly visionary leader came forward, they would be remembered as perhaps the greatest US president in history, compared to Roosevelt, Lincoln, and essentially the American equal to a savior.