Thanks for distilling that down. I didn't read the article. I agree that the current POTUS is more a symptom than a cause. I suspect that empires, much like or

Thanks for distilling that down. I didn't read the article. I agree that the current POTUS is more a symptom than a cause. I suspect that empires, much like organisms, are born, grow, mature and eventually succumb to senescence. Part of this is developing wealth and then spending more and more of the society's output to defend it from threats, real or imagined. It seems like at some point the defense becomes an end in itself and drains resources from things like keeping up infrastructure and taking care of citizens. Business entities such as large corporations seem to see a similar life cycle, though defense is not what drains them. I suspect it is more related to layers of management.