VDH contemplates the similarities between two dying empires:
The last generations of Byzantines had inherited a global reputation and standard of living that they themselves no longer earned. They neglected their former civic values and fought endless battles over obscure religious texts, doctrines, and vocabulary.
They did not expand their anemic army and navy. They did not reunite their scattered, Greek-speaking empire. They did not properly maintain their once life-giving walls.
Instead of earning money through their accustomed nonstop trade, the Byzantines inflated their currency and were forced to melt down the city’s inherited gold and silver fixtures.
The once canny and shrewd Byzantines grew smug and naive. Childlessness became common. Most now preferred to live outside of what had become a half-empty, often dirty, and poorly maintained city.
The difference is that America was conquered from within by foreigners who have ruled over the natives, and ruled disastrously, in their own short-sighted and self-perceived interests. But America was always doomed due to its foolish, though understandable in the circumstances, adoption of civic nationalism in the place of the real thing.
If there is one lesson to be learned from the decline and fall of the United States, it is that a nation cannot be artificially manufactured from diverse elements. There was never any need to “divide and conquer” the USA because division was built into the USA from the very start. “Show up and conquer” was sufficient.