Well at least we had a good 230 years.
We'll still scrape along for a while longer, so 2006 isn't a end point, just as the country was far from up and running in 1776.
But 2006 will mark the formal announcement to the world that a new political reality exists on the North American continent, and that this reality no longer includes a completely sovereign country called the United States that is willing to defend its borders, culture, or language.