Rings very true for where the US seem to be now; over-stretched (waging wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan…), chaotic (Tea Party, gun laws, endemic violence…), desparate (kowtowing to India, China…), deficits of ‘Hellenic proportions’!
What say you, SDMB, is the US in a state of destruction-cum-desolation?
No.
Explain how the various things you’re stringing together are interconnected and make a case for their being unprecedented, and I’ll consider a more detailed response.
As obvious as the rich tapestry that is the US’ predicament is, no.
That’s the job of a more qualified person. Hence, I provided the above video link to the lecture that elicited this thread. Left-click it and be regaled by the wonders of the phenomenon known as ‘the Interent’! 
I think we are in the early stages: there are some obvious things we could be doing to right the course, but our institutions no longer have the capacity to respond and our populace is too ignorant and otherwise distracted to notice.
We haven’t entered the empire stage yet. We need to wait for Caesar to return from Gaul first…
-XT
Well how you confine yourself to OP’s you are qualified to start then. We expect more than a ‘here’s a video link, go for it’.
You can start by giving a reasonably detailed but cogent summary of the video argument, quoting some of the data used.
According to the video, empires do not go through stages but exist in a sort of chaotic harmonious state for however long and then have a very abrupt collapse brought on by an extemely high debt to revenue ratio.
I think we are on the road to a relative collapse. The US has enjoyed a hegemony since the World Wars for various reasons and lone hegemony for the last 20 years as the worlds only superpower but with the emergence of other economic powerhouses, mailnly China, I think we are not going to occupy the role we have become used to.
What endemic violence? The violent crime rate for the nation as a whole has been steadily dropping since the 1980s. What kowtowing to India and China?
As we know from history, before the Empire declines, it needs to convert en masse to a different religion.
“Kowtowing” is neocon slang for anything that is not arrogance.
The ‘US empire’ is not in decline at all…we are still growing. Other powers (such as the oft mentioned China) are simply growing faster relative to where they started. To use an example used in other threads, it’s like comparing Bill Gates to a guy moving up from the lowest levels of poverty to being merely poor. The guy moving up from making a thousand a year to making 10k a year has a huge growth rate…but, in the end, he’s still poor. Bill Gates might only make an extra billion this year (or might even lose a few billion)…his growth rate is very small relative to where he started. However, he’s still ridiculously rich compared to the poor guy, even though that poor guys growth is much larger.
Used this also in another thread…it’s a good graphical representation. Run the time line from the 1990’s to 2006 and follow the trajectories of the US, China and India (you can select other countries as well if you want to track them too…it’s a fun tool to play with).
-XT
Sorry, but the invasion of Iraq, complete with George W. Bush prancing around in a military uniform on the deck of an American warship like some tinpot dictator was as pure an imperial moment as anyone could ask for.
Odd, this is the post I meant to quote in my message above. Sorry, I don’t know how that happened.
I think it’s a stretch to pull these points into an overall conclusion of declining empire. Our military may be over-stretched now on its own terms, but I don’t see that translating into our overall society being over-stretched. Without getting into the wisdom of our current wars, they’re being fought without any of the rationing and strain we felt in WWII.
As for chaos, violence in the US has been declining for quite a while. Politically, it’s hard for any argument about chaos not to fall into the overall left-right dynamic. Generally, though, I think Obama voters would say that the political energy and involvement that brought him to power in 2008 was a sign of vibrancy, not decline, and tea party supporters would say the same about the their movement.
On the foreign front, China and India are heavily invested in US success. They need a vibrant US market to absorb the goods and services they produce.
Yes, they are dependent on US markets now but as there own people grow wealthier and are able to consume more goods they will grow less dependent on the US. At what point do they decide to call in their debts to reduce the power of a competitor?
But only a moment.
He is not president any more, and while we are still in Iraq, we are planning on leaving.
Why did you include the pictures, since the speaker debunked them at the beginning of his speech.
The U.S.'s empire? It hasn’t even been created yet. We kind of started one around 100 years ago, but it kind of petered out around mid-century for some reason. When I’m emperor, I’ll fix that (no reason to be emperor in name only).
The U.S. hegemony? It’s not as strong as it once was, but it’s still probably the strongest in the world now. Some people say it’s not even a hegemony. Whatever it is, I imagine it will both wax and wane before it’s gone.
He wasn’t in military uniform.
As for the OP, I’m with those who say: an OP is more than linking to a video and asking what we think.
An imperial moment would have been when GW paraded through the streets of Washington with captured Iraqi’s in chains and baggage trains of the represented wealth of Iraq precessing behind him as the US annexed Iraq and installed a US Governor in Baghdad. Possibly in a chariot.
GW striding around in a flight suit with some socks stuffed down the front…not so much an imperial moment as something humorous. But even assuming GW paraded on the flight deck dressed out with gold lace and medals galore, the image doesn’t make it a reality. GW isn’t president anymore…Obama is no in the drivers seat. GW is wandering around in the wastelands trying to get folks to buy his new book and has pretty much dropped off the public’s radar. He didn’t become The Emp or God King or anything else…just a schluffy who has slunk off the public stage.
Regardless (I’m sure there are plenty of posters who think we are an empire, even if we are a democracy), I don’t see the indications we are in decline. The fact that China is rising doesn’t mean the US is falling…not unless there is actual evidence that our GDP and political, military and cultural power are in decline (and not simply do to the fact we are in a recession, currently). And I’ve seen no evidence that there is a trend that we are declining on any of those things…merely that other countries are rising faster than we are. Rising faster is easier, however, when you start at the bottom, than when you are the most powerful and wealthy country on earth. Bill Gates verses some guy from the poorest levels of society moving up to the not so poorest levels.
-XT