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> It hasn't built its prosperity on invading other nations to annex them and plunder their national wealth, which is traditionally how empires temporarily susta

• rhino369 10y ago
  The US didn't plunder their wealth. It extinguished / concentrated the previous civilizations and created a new civilization in it's place. Even if the US experienced severe economic, military, and social decline, Illinois isn't going to turn back into the Illiwek Confederation. Those people don't exist anymore. To put it more simply, America isn't a patchwork of nations and nationalities. Empire's are several nations aggregated into one political union. If America were in decline, we might lose parts of the southwest to Mexico (due mostly to heavy immigration, not because we stole the land from them), maybe Hawaii, and the colonial territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, etc.). In a total collapse (post apocalyptic), new nationalities would form, but that takes a long time.
  • kmicklas 10y ago
    > The US didn't plunder their wealth. It extinguished / concentrated the previous civilizations and created a new civilization in it's place. It did plunder their underlying wealth in natural resources. That's not to mention what we've done in the Middle East, South America, Africa, Asia, and even Europe if you go back to the world wars. I get what you're saying about there not being enough of substrate national power to undermine the US on its own territory but I think externally anti-imperialism is gaining currency just about everywhere. And that will come back to bite us one way or another.