Quote:
Originally Posted by kschmidt91  What it boils down to is this: No nation will be an eternal Superpower. Just look at Rome and England. As it is now, it looks as though our country is on the fast track to losing our "superpowers". |
That's a very salient point. How long have any of the empires which seemed destined to dominate the world lasted?
There's no question that America has achieved remarkable successes in terms of wealth and technology, and that it's currently the world's only super power. But, as you point out, this is not the first time in history that a nation has achieved such lofty status.
What has become of former international dynasties will almost certainly happen to America. Our country was founded on the ideals of people who had been oppressed and denied basic human liberties. As a result, our system of government was created with largely altruistic values, as eloquently expressed by Daniel Webster: "The people’s government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people."
But those values have ultimately been supplanted by the decadance and greed which is indemic to human nature. If we could have figured out how to keep our founding values pure and operational, we'd very likely not be worried about losing our predominant position as the world's most successful and powerful nation. But, as demonstrated by history, no natiion has achieved such an ideal.
It's unfortunate, but unfortunately inevitable, that America will cede its predominance to a country or countries, e.g. China and India, which are not so sated by wealth and are consequently hungrier than we are.