Is the US government working?

[GrinningYMIR]

Over the course of the existence of the United States there have been rocky points. Economically we had the panic of 1837, the great depression, and now this disaster of an economy.

Militarily we have the war of 1812, the beginning of WW2, and the long drawn out Vietnam.

These events have weakened our nation, but we have managed to overcome them

I'm asking, have we really?

Is our government actually working? or will we collapse as rome did?

The way it looks; best case scenario- we go through a rough decade or two, eventually we pull out of it and go back to a better level

worst case- complete collapse of the government, perhaps a civil war, there's certainly enough hate to make people fight each other.

Give your opinions here, anything goes, just help me puzzle out whether or not the United States of America is really working anymore, or if its a straight line to a malevolent despotism

[The Skeletal Atheist]

Blow up a balloon but don't tie it up. Now release it and trace its path on a piece of paper. Give that line an x and y axis. That should accurately represent how well the government has been doing over any length of time.

[Jmpty]

Seems fine to me. It's no different than at any other time in my 55 years here.

[aitm]

of course it's working. You might consider your next question as, is it working well?

[stromboli]

Define "working".

[LikelyToBreak]

It works for some, for others it doesn't.  Many people have become millionaires in America and some died helping them to do so.  Once America had the largest middle class in the world, now the middle class is shrinking.  America has imposed its' will, meaning the will of the rich, on foreign lands.  It committed genocide against the Native Americans.  The American government has ignored its' own laws whenever it was politically expedient to do so.

Yeah, America will work for the rich for a long time to come, rather they live here or not.  For the rapidly expanding poorer classes, not so much.

[Colanth]

Is our government actually working? or will we collapse as rome did?

You say that as if Rome didn't last very long.  It was one of the, if not the, longest-running nation in history.  It lasted as a power for over 1,000 years, first as a republic, then as an empire.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

It seems to work great for some, shitty for others. I'm living slightly above shitty, but it still stinks.
Shitty is living in Damascus or anywhere bombs are exploding regularly on cities.
On the other hand..if you have specially trained and armed drivers and bodyguards and live in utter oppulence (sp) then.... wait..That's shitty too..

[Jason Harvestdancer]

Working - by what standard?

It does what those in power want it to do.  If that is good for the rest of us is open to debate.

[Youssuf Ramadan]

It's working for the rich.....