All superpowers have the same life cycle: birth, maturation, old age and disintegration.

America became an official global empire and planetary policeman when we invaded and occupied Iraq. If we Americans looked at history we would realize there is only one superpower story. The script is so familiar it looks like each superpower passed it on to its successor. Two historians, Paul Kennedy the author of "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" and David Spangler, the author of "The Decline of the West" said that all superpowers go through a similar life cycle of birth, maturation, old age and disintegration.

The fall is always marked by the imperialistic stage characterized by increased wars, wealth, privilege, power, greed, hubris, corruption and chaos that causes suffering to its people and the countries it occupies.

Today the once glorious empires of Mesopotamia (Iraq), Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Aztec and Inca are historical ruins where tourist take pictures.

The twentieth century saw superpowers France, Spain, Portugal and Britain wane and the U.S. and the Soviet Union rise. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990 the U.S., the sole superpower, rules culturally, economically and militarily. Paradoxically, now that America is at the height of her power it is a classic sign of her decline.

In his book "The Decline of the Roman Empire" Edward Gibbons lists some of the causes of Rome’s decline. It could be a description of America today. He said Rome declined as it had a bloated and overextended military, widespread economic and political corruption, public apathy, hedonism and addiction to and dependence on foreign resources.

Wes "Scoop" Nisker in his article titled "The Great Leap Backward" " in Common Ground Magazine said, "We may be experiencing our progression of crazy Caesars, the like of Nixon, Reagan and the two Bushes. Just like the Roman Caesars—these presidents believe they are divinely appointed to keep God’s chosen people powerful and prosperous. But of course, they are doing all of the historically wrong things as they play out the scenario of declining empire. As George Bernard Shaw once said, "We learn from history that we learn nothing from history."

Lawrence H. Summers gives another reason for America’s decline in his article titled "America Overdrawn" in the August 2004 issue of Foreign Policy. He says, "there is something odd about the world’s greatest power being the world’s greatest debtor…Much has been made of the U.S. dependence on foreign energy, but the country’s dependence of foreign cash is even more distressing. In a real sense, the countries that hold U.S. currency and securities in their banks also hold U.S. prosperity in their hands. The prospect should make Americans uncomfortable."

Robert J Lifton the author of "Superpower Syndrome" says superpowers fail because they think they have little recourse but the endless use of force and they are seen as the most dangerous of all countries. Lifton calls this endless cycle of force the Superpower Syndrome.

Because Americas 10,000 nuclear warheads and stockpiles of weapons are at the core of our superpower status we want to dominate the nuclear and military arena. Absolute security cannot be obtained via domination as absolute security for America means absolute insecurity for others.

As most historians point out since Athenian times democracies have been unable to run empires. Superpowers nurture the growth of state power, burdensome taxation, conscription, militarism and measure progress by profit.

Although previous American Presidents have been cautious of nuclear weapons as they are capable of annihilating the earth and humankind the Bush administration has made nuclear weapons the currency of power. This has provoked Iran and North Korea to accelerate their own nuclear programs. The administrations increased fear of vulnerability and being dismissive of diplomatic arms control has made it difficult to tolerate other countries possessing weapons.

Paul Wolfowitz named the No. 2 man at the defense department said America’s political and military mission should "ensure that no rival superpower is allowed to emerge." He also says we stand for something decent and important and what is good for us is good for the world.

Nisker’s humorous answer to America’s decline is to go to the United Nations and announce to the world that we are officially resigning as a superpower and would like to be an ordinary nation again. He said not only would the entire world applaud and bless us but we would no longer be the prime target of terrorists. We could relax, let down our defenses and not work so hard to keep the superpower economy going.

He said instead of spending half-a-trillion dollars a year on our military we could do something frivolous and build the best health care, school and mass transit system in the world.

He said there is nothing to fear by letting go of our superpower status. A few centuries after the fall of Rome, Romans started calling themselves Italians and they are doing fine today. The same can be said for the previous superpowers.

Chief Seattle predicted in 1855 that America would fall someday. He said, "Your time of decay may be distant but it will surely come, for even the white man, whose God walked and talked with him as friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny."