Grieving the US Empire

AKA ... the Great Withering

This past Sunday, Bag & his in-laws met for breakfast at a new local restaurant. The food was meh. But next to the restaurant was a used bookstore, and after eating, Bag couldn’t help himself. In he went. The place was jumping. There were at least a dozen employees, and roughly fifty customers milling around. They had an entire aisle dedicated to psychology. The first book he saw was the Kubler-Ross masterpiece “On Death and Dying,” in which the five stages of grief were first introduced. The next aisle was another of Bag’s favorites, History. There he found a handsome leather-bound multi-volume set on the “Fall of the Roman Empire”. Opening the first book to a random page, Bag was treated to a delightful, distinctive scent, one unique to aged books.

As a student of history, Bag has always been fascinated by “The Fall of the Roman Empire”. Those words sound so final, so abrupt, like there is an exact moment in time, where some monumental event causes the entire thing to implode. History teaches us ALL empires inevitably collapse under their own weight. The Romans weren’t the only one. The British had an Empire too, as did the French, the Spanish, and the Mongols before them, to name a few. They all disappeared.

By almost any objective measure, the modern-day US must be considered an empire as well. Not too long ago, the United States was the envy of the world. We were fresh off the Industrial Revolution, having won back-to-back World Wars, and through Bretton Woods, we created and controlled the World’s reserve currency. We were a manufacturing powerhouse with a booming economy. In just a few short generations, we pissed it all away.

For years now, Bag has been expecting the inevitable collapse, dutifully preparing for the moment where the whole house of cards comes crashing down. Amazingly, the ruling class has been remarkably adept at kicking that can down the road. Somehow that moment never seems to arrive. And then it occurred to Bag, what if history is wrong, and empires don’t just collapse. Is it possible that they will slowly wither into obscurity? After all, there is black, white, and the thousand shades of gray between. Perhaps empires have a way of lingering through the “gray” twilight for years, fueled by nothing more than past glory and the sheer momentum of what once was.

There must have been plenty of people in the late stages of all of those empires who could see the deterioration in real time. Bag wonders, in true Kubler-Ross fashion, how they dealt with the grief of that observation.

Did they outright DENY the reality of their perceptions, clinging to a long-held emotionally comforting belief that the empire and those who ruled it, had things under control?

Or did they lash out in ANGER, venting their frustrations at anyone and anything in their orbit?

Or opt instead to wallow in DEPRESSION, choosing not to confront the reality that society was continually changing for the worse?

Or did they BARGAIN away the grief of what they saw with thoughts like “After the war, things will go back to normal” or “If that guy were in charge, things would improve”?

Or perhaps, did they ACCEPT the reality of their perceptions, along with a belief they were powerless to do anything about it?

These are all particularly poignant questions considering the situation the US and its citizenry find themselves in today. Like it or not, we are all currently living through the late stages of Empire. What was once a “shining city on a hill” is little more than a smoldering pile of rubble. DENY that assessment if you like, but all the evidence of late-stage empire is there if you just believe your own eyes.

The signs include rampant inflation, widespread moral decay, staggering levels of debt, and a growing chasm between the Haves and the Have-Nots (most of whom are addicted to social media, processed foods, video games, and/or antidepressants). Then there are the senseless wars with countries that, Bag would bet his left nut, the overwhelming majority of our poorly educated populace could not point out on a map. And of course, the grand-daddy of them all, political corruption, which has reached absurd levels. For f*cksake, have you heard of the Epstein files? We are literally ruled by a cadre of paedophiles. Acknowledging these undeniable facts is just the first stage of processing our grief.

From there, it might seem natural to direct ANGER and rage at those on the “other side of the aisle”. After all, it’s their fault we are in this mess. Right? Blamestorming political foes might feel good in the moment, but it is no path to psychological health. We all have idealistic beliefs about how the world works, or at least how it should work. Quite often, those beliefs fail to mesh with what we see in the world around us. That disparity leaves a clear choice. We can accept responsibility, look inward, and update our belief system to better match reality ….or…. look outward, in a perpetual state of anger, assigning blame, and futilely demanding reality bend to our belief system.

Of course, there are plenty who will opt not to make that choice at all. Preferring instead to play the victim, and diving headlong into a life of clinical DEPRESSION. In a classic case of treating the symptom rather than the cause, many of the clinically depressed will numb the pain with alcohol, sex, drugs, gambling, or whatever vice is handy. The particular addiction they choose does not matter. Sure, it may provide a temporary escape from the harsh realities of life, but the long-term price of any addiction is a complete loss of personal sovereignty.

What’s that you say?

“The problems here in the US are just temporary. Our best days are ahead.” …. Sounds a lot like BARGAINING …

If you are lucky enough to catch an addict in a rare moment of lucidity, ask them what the end result of bargaining looks like. Only getting high on the weekends, or cutting back to 1/2 pack a day, or only one glass of wine after dinner might sound like a well-struck bargain. But every addict, if they are being honest, will tell you the same thing. Those limits are the metaphorical front lines in the war over control between the addict and their addiction. The harsh truth is that most addicts are not equipped for that battle, and so they lose ground to their addiction every time.

It is no different for the rest of us. We can all see the visible horrors consistent with the end of the empire. Reflexively rationalizing them away with platitudes like “our best days are ahead” entails a significant loss of personal agency. Either you control your environment, or your environment (programmed by the Empire), controls you.

Figuratively speaking, the various stages of grief are nothing more than a giant cognitive cage. We willingly lock ourselves in, surrendering control over our own lives while the world around us is asset-stripped and set ablaze by the ruling class. And for what?? A respite from reality, some transient comforts, or the illusion of safety??

We all feel it. Our inner voice is screaming that something is wrong. We silence that voice every chance we get, opting instead to run faster on our State-designed hamster wheels. While we plebes drown in our existential angst, Empire continually tosses narratives into the ether for us to grab onto, like life preservers. We are so focused on not drowning, we fail to see how those narratives steer our thought patterns in much the same way a cattle chute funnels the herd into the slaughterhouse. Some of the more egregious examples include: they hate us for our freedoms, Iraq has WMD’s, Epstein killed himself, Israel is our ally, the vaccines are safe and effective, and from recent headlines - we are winning the War in Iran.

The key to overcoming our existential angst is in the ACCEPTANCE stage. We must acknowledge the reality of what we see, but reject the belief that we are powerless to do anything about it. The cognitive tools required to unlock our cage are scattered all around us. We need only bend over, pick them up, and start building. Those tools include:

• Keep assets outside the system

• Plant a garden

• Own a firearm and train with it

• Stockpile food, water, and essential tools

• Build a library of physical books

• Secure a renewable energy source

• Learn new skills and trades

• Grow your community network

• Get out of debt

• Spend more time in nature

• And above all else, recognize YOU have the power to change things.

That Sunday afternoon in the bookstore was time well spent. Bag almost bought the Roman Empire set—until he saw the price tag: $5,950. No doubt actual books are valuable, but when they cost as much as a decent used car, it might be the clearest sign yet that the end of empire is closer than we think.

For those interested in more on the crumbling US Empire, we highly recommend this companion piece we published a while back …. (Linked here)