The Nation was the greatest on Earth, or so I learned in school. They reached the pinnacle not by accident, but because it was fate. It was created, some would say divinely, others would merely say divinely-inspired. It was the citizens of this great Nation which made it special; they were different, they were better, they understood it took more than living in within the borders to make themselves citizens—it had to be earned. The Nation spread itself from sea to shining sea; after all it was its destiny to do such.

The Nation grew and grew; it was the envy of the planet. All who heard of its riches and its majesty and its grand buildings and its elevated society and its prosperous times became enamored with the mythology; its own citizens included. Surrounded by opulence with more than enough for all, the Nation welcomed outsiders in, many who blended in quickly, many didn’t. The Nation didn’t mind about those who didn’t blend in, so long as they followed the general rules of the Nation; and as long as they performed services (like enlisting in the military, defending the Nation) for the Nation’s benefit.

The Nation came to rely on these foreigners, and began allowing more and more to come in. They provided a lower class for the citizens of the Nation to hire as farmhands, for menial jobs citizens were too proud to take (after all, why would a citizen of the Nation pick up garbage when we have all these non-citizens looking for jobs?) The non-citizen became a necessary working-class in the Nation, and the floodgates were opened.

The opening of the borders of the Nation to all who wanted to come in had unintended consequences, however. Along with those who wanted to come into the Nation and better themselves and their families with all the benefits they were surrounded by, many more gangs and hordes came in to pillage and destroy the Nation, robbing and killing the citizens, exploiting and using their own society against them.

It wasn’t long afterward this Nation fell; a Nation which stood for 1000 years; a Nation whose name represented civilization, progress, technology, strength, domination, and decadence. Rome was the greatest power in the world four times longer than the United States has existed. Roughly from 500 BC to 500 AD, Rome was the center of the world. Since at least 1945, America has held that distinction. We should be proud we have reached the apex of the world; we pat ourselves on the back enough, anyway.

Rome, like the United States had humble beginnings. Romans believed the Gods picked them to be the rulers of the world, as if they were the chosen people. How can Americans deny we believe, or at least believed, such things about our Nation? You hear the Glenn Beck types, hell you even hear normal people say things we, as in America, are “the shining city on a hill” or somehow propped up by God himself, as if God simply created the world so that Americans could exist to rule the world the same way the Romans had. Perhaps you now see my point.

I am not saying the flood of illegal immigration is what is killing this country; it is only a symptom of the larger problem. Akin to an AIDS patient who doesn’t die of the virus itself, but from the pneumonia he can’t fight off, illegal immigration, the vast, unending amounts of debt America has accrued, the social discord between factions now forming in this country is at a crescendo.

It might be illegal immigration that does us in, as it was with Rome. It might be the socialist apparatuses which are being created and have been created by this and previous administrations which we will crumble under the burden of supporting. It might be our outside investors finally calling in our debt or simply stating we can’t pay them back in worthless American dollars. It could be some terrorist event (domestic or otherwise) which brings us to our knees. Or maybe none of this happens.

Just as sure as I am the Jets will lose to the Patriots, Los Angeles will be hit with an earthquake, I will fall flat on my face as I attempt to ask out the Keva Juice girl, and the sun will rise tomorrow, I am positive the strongest Nation in the world will fall. And when they fall, they fall precipitously.

What happened to Rome? The same thing which happened to the civilization they replaced at the top of the heap, the Egyptians; they were invaded and taken over. China today as we know it, has risen, fallen, been invaded, invaded their neighbors, collapsed, and rebuilt itself like a Swiss watchmaker had set it. The sun never set on the British Empire, so they said. Now? I don’t think the sun ever rises over London.

I love America. I believe in America. I believe America and Americans to be special. I love the privileges bestowed upon me for being an American; the freedom to write this is but one example. I want America to be great; I want America to be the power I grew up believing it to be. It isn’t, and we all know it.

Rome still exists, so does Cairo. They are capitals of nations, nations which honor the heritage of their previous generations. Italy is unified, Egypt is a nation, their bloodlines exist, the memory remains. Washington, DC will still be on a map. New York City is far too important to collapse entirely. The land America will exist much longer than the Nation, I am sure of it. And in the long run, maybe that is enough. But for those who really love and appreciate the current society we live in, the current government we have, the current freedoms and culture, we have a lot of work to do.