Authored by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,Years ago, Doug Casey stated, “When empires die, they do so with surprising speed.”At the time, that comment raised eyebrows, yet he was quite correct in his observation. There are many countries, both large and small, that are “great” in their formative values, but only a few become empires. The middle class is expected to provide largess to the masses through bread & circuses, providing fealty for the political class. Concurrently, the political class becomes increasingly tyrannical in order to hold the collapsing edifice together. The political class has no intention of relinquishing even a small amount of power for the good of the people he was elected to represent.