Belaboring the obvious.
We have been declining for a century despite the power and wealth industrialization generated,
for the plain & simple reason that we have abandoned the values & virtues that birthed us.
That is why we hear the absurd cliche' "We are the Greatest" repeated relentlessly by those senile.
We chose Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison & Monroe, our Founders, while our last 5 included
Bush, Clinton, Obama, Trump & Biden, the most embarrassing collection of Assholery in our 225 years.
History affirms that ideas fuel creative effort, a key to the longevity of nation/states and their cultures.
We either develop/find the leadership necessary, or we will disappear, which history also affirms.