Of Empires and Human Spirit

Sigmund, Carl, and Alfred writes on the subject of the American Empire, and whether or not it is in decline. They reject the notion that the American Empire is doomed to fail, or is already failing.

In truth, the American Empire is nothing like the 'empires' that preceded her, because in fact, the American Empire is not dependent on foreign influence. It is our own desire to ever self assess and self improve that fuel America. We look to fix our problems, rather than hide them. Foreigners look to our shores for inspiration, not to far flung outposts, where we might temporarily find ourselves. America herself is still the preferred destination for most of the worlds immigrants, political posturing notwithstanding.

The longevity of the American government is pretty much unprecedented in history, when you look at the amount of change it has survived. Egypt may have had its centuries of dynasties, but in those centuries, not much changed. I've found a useful measure of change to be turns in the computer game Civilization. At the start of the game, each turn is 20 years, but once you hit 1850, each turn is 1 year. We've lasted a lot more turns than Egypt.