Decline of the US Empire

A central premise of the Decline of Empire Saga is this: The Culture Wars are, as much as anything else, a blame game: Left and Right are both distressed by the decline of American influence and moral authority (though Right is more distressed than Left), and each blames the other for the decline. And they are both somewhat right (though Left is more right than Right).
 * 1) The American Century is over: The Decline of the US Empire is underway
 * 2) America is broke and broken: economically, socially, politically, militarily, and morally
 * 3) This is very distressing for many Americans
 * 4) Americans are going through the 5 stages of grief, different people are at different stages, many are at Stage 2: Anger
 * 5) The process of laying blame is well underway

Evidence of the Decline
8 striking parallels between the U.S. and the Roman Empire America at War: A Record of Unparalleled Failure"So here are five straightforward lessons—none acceptable in what passes for discussion and debate in this country—that could be drawn from that last half century of every kind of American warfare:"
 * 1) "Staggering Increase in the Cost of Elections, with Dubious Campaign Funding Sources"
 * 2) "Politics as the Road to Personal Wealth"
 * 3) "Continuous War: A national state of security arises, distracting attention from domestic challenges with foreign wars"
 * 4) "Foreign Powers Lavish Money/Attention on the Republic’s Leaders"
 * 5) "Profits Made Overseas Shape the Republic’s Internal Policies"
 * 6) "Collapse of the Middle Class"
 * 7) "Gerrymandering"
 * 8) "Loss of the Spirit of Compromise"
 * 1) "No matter how you define American-style war or its goals, it doesn’t work. Ever."
 * 2) "No matter how you pose the problems of our world, it doesn’t solve them. Never."
 * 3) "No matter how often you cite the use of military force to “stabilize” or “protect” or “liberate” countries or regions, it is a destabilizing force."
 * 4) "No matter how regularly you praise the American way of war and its “warriors,” the US military is incapable of winning its wars."
 * 5) "No matter how often American presidents claim that the US military is “the finest fighting force in history,” the evidence is in: it isn’t."