The USA Is Destined To Fall

Throughout history, many empires have risen to great success, only to collapse and fade into dust eventually. Some notable examples include the Roman Empire, which stretched from Africa to northern England; and the British Empire, known for its dominance over the seven seas. All of these, and more, have become the stuff of legend, their stories of success and expansion ultimately collapse. Unable to handle the weight of time and contradiction. But are all empires destined to collapse the same way as the others? More importantly, the question we all ask is, are we, the United States of America,  living through the end of an empire? In this essay, I will compare and contrast the USA to Rome,  explain what the fall of an empire means, how to avoid falling, and finally end with an answer to the question.

First, I would like to talk about the Great Roman Empire, the standard that all empires aspire to achieve. Everyone wants to be like Rome, with its beautiful architecture, lavish economy, and entertainment consisting of feeding people to lions.  Rome is a prime example of a successful empire, other empires would only hope to achieve the same success. We can’t talk about the rise and fall of empires without mentioning Romes, and far-right YouTubers love to compare America to Rome. Is there a reason for this comparison, is the US the new Rome? In some ways, the US and Rome do have similarities like their desire for expansion, global influence, military dominance, extreme inequality, chattel slavery, and major displays of wealth. We also have similar historical events: how both empires responded similarly to disease outbreaks, both were constantly involved in wars, and both suffered economic crises that commentators were sure would the end golden age of humanity. But, as a note, the people who usually make this comparison have this idea of mythologizing America, compared to Rome it’s still very young. Our nickname, The New Rome, fits right into the manifest destiny ideology that was popular in the 19th century.

Next, what does it mean for an empire to fall? We all know the phrase The Fall of Rome, contradicting the popular phrase historians say that Rome didn’t fall in a day. There wasn’t a significant event that led to a dramatic collapse, but a series of unfortunate events built on each other. We cannot say that Rome existed one day and then crumbled into nothingness; that is simply not how the world works. We can point out some failures that led to the fall: crumbling infrastructure, corruption, dwindling trust, and humiliating defeat. All the little cracks in the support beams caused the major collapse. If you dig deeper into American history we also have small cracks: The Great Depression, the Red Scare, 9/11, the 2008 Financial Crash, COVID-19, and now the handful of crises that have been simmering for generations. With the Climate Crises and the collapse of US imperial control over our perimeter, we are losing ground economically, militarily, and geopolitically to China. Our recent influence in the Middle East has ensured that every third-world country will never believe in our principle of self-determination and freedom ever again, which means the majority of our resources will be harder to gain. Dwindling resources doesn’t end well for our economy. Because the US follows a capitalist economic philosophy, the key to ensuring it stays stable is to keep the working gears turning. Regardless of the human toll. The prime goal of Capitalism is the accumulation of capital and if that means sacrificing a few low-working classmen, then so be it. 

What makes the difference between empires that endure and empires that fall? Nothing can last forever, so what standards does an empire need to make it through these challenges? In one word, resilience: the ability of a system to react, adapt, and overcome the challenges they are faced with. Rebuilding infrastructure after a natural disaster, analyzing the system after an economic crisis to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and protecting people from a major disease outbreak. If we hold America to these same standards will it pass? Let’s start with infrastructure: Flint Michigan still has undrinkable water despite the government promising to replace water lines, much of New Orleans is still damaged eighteen years after Hurricane Katrina, and we have trains derailing across the country - at an average of 4.8 derailments per day- most of those trains carrying toxic chemicals. The US is notorious for letting its infrastructure fail and never repairing it. When it comes to economic disaster things aren’t any better. During the ‘08 financial crash and the recession that followed, nearly 10 million Americans lost their homes. The majority of those homes were acquired by investors, and most of those houses are still owned by them today. The government did nothing to stop this monopoly, they slapped a handful of people on the wrist but the vast majority of the executives that participated in this scheme got off scot-free. Finally, there’s COVID, there was an answer to stopping the death toll of the pandemic. All the people in power knew the science and procedures on how to stop the spread, but they still failed. Instead of listening, they did the exact opposite, the government milked the importance of work in America and moved on.

America relies on a system that will not and cannot be resilient. Capitalism is heavily dependent on running the leanest operation possible, with no safety nets or guard rails. When quotas can’t be met they cut corners, no more benefits, healthcare, no more vacation time, or parental leave. The 1% doesn’t care how angry the working class is, they know we need to work to stay alive. What they do care about is maintaining their geopolitical interest abroad, but once again because of the logic of capitalism, the empire's grip is slipping. When we are the only game in town we can make our demands, and force third-world countries to give us resources and businesses. This leads to the rest of the world hating us and when a supplier hates a company they look for alternative ways. The alternative is China, unlike us they aren’t stuck in the arrogance of being the world power. They focus on their country their people and in return China receives collaboration. Why make a deal with America, which will benefit in the long run, when China offers a deal where both parties win? It’s no wonder why America keeps losing trade deals when China. So, when a country that is dependent on extracting wealth from third-world countries suddenly loses the ability to do so, they lash out. They start proxy wars in strategic locations to gain the upper hand. There’s a reason why we are supplying aid to Ukraine, supporting Taiwan against China, and war with the entire Arab world over Israel. It’s because war is the last chance the American empire has to stay at the top, to shoot itself in the leg and limp along for the next decade. Will it work?

In the end, we need to realize that we grew up in a time when the US had full control of the world. Most Americans, no matter how critical they are of the US, believe that we are special- that our empire won’t collapse or fade in irrelevance- all the struggles and challenges we face will just be bumps in the road. We need to grapple with the fact that this will not be the case. We are living through the end of an empire, though it’s not as dramatic or apocalyptic as we’ve expected it to be. It may take 50 years or 100, but the US is on its way out. Our contradictions have become so deep and the failures so frequent that it should be clear to us all that the American empire has begun to fade.