This is simply tremendously dangerous nonsense from a man who apparently has far too much privilege in his life:
Now, let’s get this out of the way. Empires fall. Nothing is forever. Societies and power structures collapse. That much is inevitable. Sometimes, it even needs to happen. There is no such thing as a benevolent empire, and sometimes for the good of greater civilization, an empire simply has to be torn down.
But, contrary to what Mr. Kemp wants you to believe, they are never particularly “good” things for those within the empire except for a small cadre of people who wind up seizing power, and they sure as hell are never “good” for the common folk.
See… there’s a reason why the people who live to tell the tale of the collapse of an empire tend to be the “1%” as he calls them. Because they are the ones with the means and privilege to survive said collapse. It’s not because history is written by the victors in this case… it’s because the victors are merely the ones who can write the history.
“Anyone could have survived the house burning down,” says the man who just emerged from his fireproof bunker. “I did it, after all! These corpses were merely unlucky or didn’t do what they needed to do!”
The sort of people who could tell the truth about the collapse are either dead, or struggling even harder to survive because the infrastructure they counted on has vanished entirely. They don’t have the time, means, energy, or opportunity to chronicle the disaster all around them. The archaeology of ancient empires frequently note how much worse their lives become in the aftermath.
And there’s another reason why you never see glorious socialist societies emerge from the wreckage of great empires… and it has nothing to do with the 1%. It has to do with the fact that humans in general simply don’t behave the way we think they should.
In times of great stress… people don’t turn to each other. They don’t turn to the commune. They don’t rally around themselves, share and share alike. At least, not in any meaningful numbers. They turn to the strongman. They turn to the “great leader.” They turn to the master manipulator who tells them what they want to hear; that they don’t have to change, and gives them a target of revenge for their despair.
It’s why the most common government to emerge from an empire… is well… another authoritarian empire (and often several). If they wind up “better,” it’s more by accident or that diminished power from the fragmented societies means they simply can’t do as much damage as their predecessor.
Listen, I get it. I understand that there is a desire to look at the crumbling American Empire, and dream that some greater society will emerge once the walls tumble down. History, and human nature, suggest that it will not. If a better, more equitable, and more socialist society emerges from the remains of the United States, that would be a far greater example of American Exceptionalism than anything in the nation’s history.
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