A user in another thread yesterday shared a link to a great essay written some 50 years ago by Sir John Glubb, who explains why 250 years is the average length of an empire and how it's rise and fall can be divided into 6 stages:
- The Age of Pioneers (outburst)
- The Age of Conquests
- The Age of Commerce
- The Age of Affluence
- The Age of Intellect
- The Age of Decadence.
He explains that Decadence is due to: Too long a period of wealth and power, Selfishness, Love of money, and The loss of a sense of duty.
Sound familiar? It describes the current situation in the US to a tee.
I highly recommend reading the whole thing, or if you want a TLDR just skip to the last page where there is a short summary of the key points. It's incredible how human history repeats itself because of human nature.
Glubb does bring up an interesting point, if we were to study history properly (something the marxists hate) and actively tried to preserve the good period while avoiding the bad ones, would we succeed?
This. We've made absolutely monumental advances in things like science and technology but we cannot escape human nature.