Yeah, others thought that their empire had something, a unique character, a great something, that other nations lacked.
The Romans thought so--and in fact, they are an excellent analogy for the America of today. No, really!
The Romans rose from almost nothing to a massive Empire that had no rival (in their area, anyway). They were certain that their people were greater than any outside it--that they had a character that was greater than others, that they were civilized where others were not.
The Americans, like the Romans, are falling victims to their own pride and power.
We as a nation believe that we are on top of the world. A great number of us believe that our nation has the right to do whatever it wants as long as it is within our interests.
And all while our increasingly overstretched military force gets told to "protect our interests" somewhere else, the population at home gets desensitized to violence protrayed in television as acceptable. After all, it's very nice and cozy to regard the horrors of war if it's not happening on your soil, if it's not happening to your nation, and if you can watch it at a distance. In this way, our television is almost comparable to gladiatorial tournaments--though not nearly as brutal, it shows that the desire for information is being completely surpassed by the desire for entertainment.
At the same time, our nation relies on a source of cheap, easy power--much as the Romans relied on cheap, easy slave labor, to run our economy, we use oil in the same way. And oil cannot last forever--that is a fact.
Our currency will become devalued, our power sources will become harder to acquire. Our nation's military will be overstretched by a willing and blind american public, we will become vulnerable. Internal tensions and external pressures will tear America apart, and this empire, like so many others, will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Sorry to ruin your day.