Are we a waning empire?

A man I respect once said to me that every empire collapses under its own weight.

I did some research and came up with a number of collapsed empires besides the Aztec, Inca, Roman and Greek empires of old.

The realms of Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Hatti, and the Ur empires represent human civilization's first experiments in empire building. Each in their own way

gave birth to the political, judicial, religious, and military systems that would influence the administration of subsequent empires.

Each incarnation steered societies on a course that would eventually lead to our modern world's intricate system of nations, states, and countries; and each played key roles in episodes in ancient history, such as the Babylonian captivity, the Trojan and Peloponnesian wars, and the eventual rise of the Greek and Roman empires.

Then I thought about the American empire of today and where we stand early into our third century.

We, as America and Americans, have a distinct possibility, in the next few hundred years of collapsing under our own weight. Greed and selfishness and the inability to compromise for the greater good will bring us down.

The partisanship of our elected members of congress is a contributing case in point. These trusted and elevated members of our society, whom we send to represent us, are attached to personal and political power and not attuned to the gift of service.

Their health care is different from the average citizen because they voted themselves to be special. Their retirement package is different from ours and extravagant. Congress and other Federal authorities should be required to live under the same rules and entitlements as their constituents do. How else can a controlling authority identify with the needs of a nation?