Unlike the Universe, America seems to have stopped expanding.
The USA is a nation of immigrants (except for the very few native Americans), yet the culture seems to have matured (or morphed?) into that of: “a Great Wall of Mexico is such a cool idea” culture.
Close the borders, stop immigration (or make it as difficult as possible).
“Them” and “us” mentality.
Closed.
America is becoming closed off, that which made it great in the first place, the fact that it was new, it was open, anything was possible, reach for the stars.Dream the impossible dream, build it, they will come. Slowly dissipating into closed. Not easy, not open, the creeping of poverty. Larger gaps between the 1% and the 2% and the 98%. Numbers do not lie and if the present closed off cultural trend continues, the US will just be another European country. In a hundred or less years, quite probably, Greece…
All great cultures come to an end.
The US citizens of the American island of Puerto Rico voted to become the 52nd state a few years ago but today the average American thinks it is a good idea to build the great wall of Mexico. Of course only two states joined the union in the entire 20th century, being Alaska and Hawaii in 1959. The Islands were joined to the continental US only for strategic military reasons.
Why not Mexico? Why not Canada? Why not Cuba? Why not the UK? Why not Russia? Why not China? Why not Brazil? Why not Egypt?
Why not the planet?
Americans should consider that there is still enough juice in the tank to pull some countries and some citizens but that there are many countries that have no interest in becoming a US state.
It is easy to see which way the wind blows: Every year consider the number of countries where citizens maybe/possibly would vote in favor of becoming a US state.
Is that number increasing? Is it decreasing? Consider that the rate of incline or decline is directly related to other numbers and consider whether in a few thousand years, America will be a Chinese state or will China be an American State?
Oh, yeah, thousands of years? The entire planet will be an autobot and on the move, hunting for new energy sources after gobbling up the sun…