End of the American Empire?

Apr 11, 2025

April, 2025

As most of you have probably noticed, my Substack posts tend to stay “above the political fray”. It’s not that I don’t have strong opinions and responses to the abhorrent actions of our current regime, nor that I haven’t shown up at recent anti-administration rallies both in Santa Fe, as well at the April 5th Hands Offs rally in Hanover, New Hampshire on the Dartmouth College campus. I have:

It’s just that there are too many other Substackers who are more politically savvy and experienced than I am, have a wiser historical perspective, and come up with more frequent and poignant analyses than I do. Pros like Robert Reich, Dan Rather, and Healther Cox Richardson, who I each read every day… and many others as well.

But since we are “all in this together”, as Substacker and legal analyst, Joyce Vance, likes to say, I don’t feel like I can just bury my head in the sand or turn the other cheek forever.

So - here’s an old post of mine from 2010, on my WordPress blog, Trules Rules, where I first started writing about a gnawing idea I’ve had ever since the early part of the 21st century. I call it “The End of the American Empire”.

And seen in the light of the current regime’s relentless un-Constititional executive orders, firings, tariffs, “crimes, and other misdemeanors”, here is a lightly-edited version of that earlier post. (still published in my signature lower-case style of the time).

july, 2010

“has anyone ever read “the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire” by edward gibbon? probably not. me neither. but i did listen to a mouth-watering chunk of it on “audible” while driving through life along the LA freeways - at the zenith of the american empire at the beginning of the 21^st century.

gibbon’s masterpiece of interpretive modern history first published in 1776 is a sprawling, six-volume account of the period of the roman empire after marcus aurelius, from 180 to 1453 AD, concluding in 1590. it conjectures about the behavior and decisions that led to the decay and eventual fall of the mighty and imperious roman empire in both the east and west. early on, it chronicles the fall of rome itself in the 5^thcentury A.D. to the barbarian invaders from the north and east, while afterward it amasses centuries of history through the byzantium, holy roman eastern empire, and selcuk histories of asia minior, all the way through the muslim conquest of constantinople in 1453 and the early rule of the ottoman turks.

according to gibbon, the roman empire succumbed to barbarian invasions in large part due to the gradual loss of moral certitude and spiritual strength among its citizens. they had become weak, “outsourcing” their physical and moral duties to defend and maintain their empire. in addition, gibbon argues that christianity created a belief that a better life existed after death, which fostered an indifference to the present among roman citizens, thus sapping their desire to sacrifice for the empire. the roman “citizens” gave away more and more of their power, until they had none left at all.

sound familiar? more on that later, my brothers and sisters…..

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but now, in 2010, my wife and i have been bussed on a group tour to the largest outpost of the ancient roman empire in asia minor, the now-turkish city of ephesus.

there are endless sites to see amidst the well-preserved ancient ruins: gymnasiums, brothels, decrepit city walls, libraries, colonnades, wide open market places, stone-hewn living quarters, christian churches, pagan temples, a 25,000 seat roman amphitheater, the remains of communal roman baths, and even… a men’s latrine.

as always, i’m getting completely caught up in dates and history, just like i was back in miss bandiero’s 11th-grade history class, although that was mostly american history. but you have to start somewhere, right?

but here’s the rub.

as foretold, i’m thinking more about “american empire” than i am about roman empire.

specifically, i’m thinking about mr. gibbon’s insight and explanation for the decline and fall of the great roman empire… and finding it frighteningly parallel to the current state of our own.

no doubt, our 20^th century, and now 21st century, american empire is the greatest in the history of mankind. with our super-cyber and post-industrial tentacles reaching all over the age of technology, the internet, and the global economy, it reaches ominously and lucratively around the entire planet. america has more influence and more control over the economies and politics of the entire world than any empire in history.

the reach and scope of the current american empire simply dwarfs such predecessors as the greeks, romans, chinese, mongols, moghuls, autro-hungarians, british, soviets, or any other previous conglomeration of tyrant, government, religion, or nation-state. simply put, the overwhelming power and influence of american politics, culture, hollywood, wall street, and goverment have collectively hypnotized and seduced a good majority of the rest of the planet. and contrarily, as in the case of the muslim world, it has entirely repelled that world into creating “a clash of civilizations”.

still, what i’m most intrigued by… should i have the courage to admit it… is the end of the american empire… which, indeed, i’ve been thinking about for decades.

but why, you ask? why would a man born into the most privileged place and time in the history of mankind have such a morbid obsession?

true, i was born in new york city in 1947 to middle-class, aspiring jews, whose families had survived the holocaust and who now had opportunities and privileges never imagined in the history of mankind. i had good food, a good education, good health care, wonderful personal and professional opportunities, and world-class information, in both quantity and quality, which no other citizen of any other empire ever had in recorded time.

and while hungry children were “starving in china”, africa, and all over the 3^rdworld, my family was going out to eat “chinks” (sorry, the sino-phobic, jewish-american word for chinese food in the new yawk suburbs of ike eisenhower and JFK), trotting into manhattan to see broadway shows whenever they felt like it, and vacationing in scenic upstate new york on lake george, or lake champlain, or in the adirondacks, or the appalachians. you get the picture: privilege and opportunity to the max.

but here’s the question, my brothers and sisters:

were, and are, my fat cat, fellow american citizens getting soft? weak? were/are they becoming more and more arrogant and entitled? not willing to work the blue collar jobs that america’s immigrants have always sweated and toiled over? were/are they also “outsourcing” their work and their national defense overseas? were/are they overextended? meddling their imperious tentacles in places where they were no longer welcome? had the muslim “barbarians”, not only knocked once, but were they not training and threatening to knock again, in islamic madrassas all over the planet?
were/are we americans winning hearts and minds beyond our borders? lining up peoples and nations in support of our american ideals and empire? or did one single man, at one single moment in history, make choices that have started to tilt our empire over the tipping point – towards its decline… and ultimate fall? did george w. bush squander the good will of the planet that america had after the 9/11 world trade center attacks and change that good will into hatred and doubt – with his/our country’s invasion of iraq and afghanistan?
(Is Donald Trump?)
do america’s gods, gurus, and prophets trumpet the commercialism and materialism of another dark age? driven by comfort, laziness, celebrity worship, fear, entitlement, materialism, and privilege? where does the american empire stand right now?

of course, only history will tell.

but history has been consistent and cruel enough before… to know that empires rise and empires fall. empires are all cyclical things. no one nation, people, or religion can dominate and endure forever. as were the greeks, phoenecians, romans, selcuks, ottomans, mongols, moghuls, british, chinese, japanese, ad infinitum, so will be the americans.

an “empire” simply can not last forever. just look over our shoulders. we can already feel the chinese in ascendance, breathing down our necks, eating up our debt and real estate, competing for dominance in economics, politics, world culture and influence.

the time of “the american empire”, i believe, is in its wane… no matter how many nationalists, rednecks, patriots, or red, white, and blue believers want it to be otherwise.

soon we will no longer have the great fortune to know that our language, our currency, our value system… is the one the rest of the world has to conform to. soon, just like other previously-domiant empires, we will have to make accommodations ourselves. as a nation. as a people. as you. as me…

a hard pill to swallow, you say?

am i just a whacked out, left-leaning, dyed-in-the-wool, jewish, new york liberal-academic intellectual? what do i know about the world? about the forces, tides, and events that make history?

then again, i’m not here, living my life waiting for the “end of the american empire”. i’m not holding my breath in fear of the invading chinese yen, the barbarian muslim hordes, (or the collapse of american freedom and democracy under donald trump!)

or am i?

but, american empire? roman empire? only 2000 years separate the two.

history repeats itself and i just wonder what relics and ruins will be left of the american empire 2000 years from now.

will visitors to new york city, if there still is a new york in the year 4010, look into the ground zero hole that was once the world trade center’s twin towers, and remember the story of what made that hole?

will 9/11 join the list of battles, triumphs, and defeats like marathon, waterloo, gallipoli, nagasaki, and saigon?

will the humans of 4010 who live on the north american continent still be called citizens of the united stated of america?

what will be standing where disneyland is now in anaheim? where the french quarter is in new orleans? where the pentagon now is in washington d.c.?

when did the decline of the american empire begin? when did it fall?

let me know what you think.

–gibbon trules”

End of the American Empire?

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