Who will history tap?

I’m not a historian, but lately I’ve been reading about why civilizations fail.

The history of our world is littered with civilizations that at one time were the dominate power in the world and which eventually fell into decline.  These include the Roman empire, the Byzantine, Greek, Aztec, Mayan and the Chinese Sui and Tang dynasties.

All of these major powers eventually ended up on the ash heap of history.

My readings say the failure can be  laid to three major causes.

Some crumbled from within through corruption, poor leadership and internal strife.  Some fell from their inability to react to major climate changes.   And, some fell from external challenges such as invasion.

I thought of this recently when it became obvious that all three elements are currently threatening the United States.

Internally, we are facing a non-functioning government, a corrupt political system dominated by special interests and poor leadership from the top.

Climate change is forcing this country to make difficult choices from doing nothing at all, to mobilizing every force available – and everything in between.

Our war weary president representing a war weary country is cutting back on military forces and withdrawing from world affairs just as China is expanding its military and Russia is once again reasserting itself.

All three causes of civilization decline are facing the United States.  Anyone of them could force our way of life onto the ash heap.

Fortunately we have one advantage that former civilizations didn’t have.

We have a form of government that allows the people to determine who they want in leadership.

This check on government power gives us hope that soon we will have a leader who understands history and is  capable of addressing the problems we now face.

Hopefully the people will soon pick a leader with ability and a desire to address all of these challenges.