The Pratfall of the American Empire

Countless empires have fallen over the centuries, but never as ridiculously as ours.  None of the manic poetry of Nero's fiddling, no decisive defeat at the hands of a greater adversary on the field of battle, no megalomaniacal flame-out of a "great leader," no heroic last stand as barbarians hammer down the gates, no tragic betrayal, no long and wet death rattle of a tired and worn out ideology--none of this.  Instead, the relentless and satirical self-parody of a political class of absolutely no account, clownish ciphers all, comically deaf to their own hubris, blind as bats and stupid as asses.  American is no longer a serious country, by any measure.  It only exists to the extent that it still amuses history.  Decline as comedy, played as farce.