Is our nation in decline? Probably not

From time to time, democracies with free elections seem to enter a period of uncertainty and distrust.

Our election process causes that problem. Those out of office know they can't get into office by telling everyone how great everything is going.

So, during election years one has only to open the pages of a newspaper or turn on the TV to hear that our country is nearing disaster and we need to change leadership at the next election.

Former Vice President Spiro Agnew used to call those negative voices the "nabobs of negativity."

Is it so? Is the United States in decline?

History tells us that several great empires have come and gone since history was first recorded. The ancient Persians, Greeks, Romans, Spanish and British all preceded us as world leaders.

In modern times, Germany and Russia flourished for a period of time and then faded rapidly. All of the earlier empires broke up and most of those countries play only minor roles in the world we know today.

How is the U.S. different from those great empires that fell? They all began as smaller units that expanded their borders through conquest. The U.S. began as a group of individual colonies that voluntarily banded together against outside interference.

The earlier empires had to defend themselves from others who bordered the conquered territories. By contrast, the borders of the U.S. are largely oceans and only two countries touch our borders, Mexico and Canada, and both are longtime allies.

One of the major differences between the U.S. and those earlier empires relates to what we have come to call the "American Spirit."

With few exceptions, Americans came here from all over the world. Shy and retiring people do not venture far from their home fires. There was a confidence, an aggressiveness, and a spirit of adventure that must have been present for those brave souls just to get here. It is our diversity and that American spirit that have become our strength and the glue that holds us together. That spirit is in our genes.

Are we in decline? Only history will answer that question. But history has taught us at least one pertinent lesson related to our situation.

Difficult times do come and are generally followed by a time of peace and prosperity. As Robert Schuller of "Crystal Cathedral" fame wrote in one of his books, "Tough times never last, but tough people do." And we have proved ourselves to be tough people.

Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's Communist boss of the 1950s, told the U.S., "We will bury you."

Where is the Soviet Union now? To paraphrase the words of American writer Mark Twain, "The report of our decline has been greatly exaggerated."