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I wasn't saying the US is a broken nation, I was just pointing out the trend line.

"The US still has a lot going for it, including an above average birth rate and by far the world's most advanced military capability."

While I agree that the US has a lot going for it, I wouldn't say that those two things are examples of that. The birth rate alone doesn't mean much (and too high a birth rate is a negative, not a positive), and our military capability is utterly dependent on the cooperation of the rest of the world to be sustained. Not to mention that having the most powerful military in the world can also be a minus -- it's very expensive, and if that's the only tool in your toolbelt, then other nations will, sooner or later, gang up on you. Every ex-world power in history had the most powerful military in the world in their heyday.