When History Repeats

The Collapse of the American Society

The United States and the very idea of liberty are on a course to become just another casualty of predictability. Periodicals from around the world are filled with civilizations that failed to learn from history, whether by arrogance or ignorance. In the case of the modern United States it is both, tragically.

The fate of the Western Roman Empire was due to a multitude of factors. When we examine history objectively, we can recognize some eerily similar precursors in the United States that run parallel to the fall of Rome.

Consider the common factors that have led to the collapse of all complex human societies in the past. From a broader perspective, these include one or more of the following: economical, environmental, demographic, social, and/or cultural turmoil. Anthropologists, historians, and sociologists have further examined causative factors such as depletion of resources, unsustainable complexity, invasion, disease, decay of social cohesion, rising inequality, secular decline of cognitive abilities, loss of creativity, and misfortune.

I review several of those causative factors below. It is not a stretch to acknowledge that not just one, but several of them are relevant today in the United States.