I wouldn’t necessarily call Islam an “organized successor.” In fact, if the US were to fall apart, the Islamic world would start killing each other almost immediately. Those outside of the Middle East (in Europe, especially) are outnumbered, at least for now, and are more likely to find themselves on the wrong end of a gun. Tolerance only goes so far, when people are starving.
I do agree that there has been a concerted effort to marginalize the religious and cultural foundation that led to America’s greatness, but that foundation is still alive and strong in much of the country. Maybe not on the coasts, but in most places in between. Our resurgence will come from there.
However, I do agree with you conclusion, that a fall of America would be much worse than that of Rome. In Roman times, there was less dependency on a complex economic framework. Most places could carry on, while the world around them crumbled. This is not true, now. If the economy implodes, people will starve. Most urban areas (and their surrounding areas) around the world cannot feed themselves, and cannot sustain the sheer numbers of people they currently have, without an efficient global economy.
Most importantly, if the US falls, the rest of the world falls harder, and more chaotically. Our economy (coupled with our military strength) is the primary the reason the world has been generally stable for 50+ years. Unlike the fall of the Soviet Union, for example, there will be no big world wide economy to tap into. We would be alone, surrounded by a suddenly very “interesting” global environment.
>>I wouldn’t necessarily call Islam an “organized successor.” In fact, if the US were to fall apart, the Islamic world would start killing each other almost immediately.
It is more organized that you want to believe. Most of Islam’s chaos is due to the western world drawing artificial borders and injecting our money and influence. The borders are slowly disappearing and once America and Europe’s money and influence wane, they will go through a process where one side of Islam will rise to the top and then they’ll have the order they need to move forward.
If we do not offer an alternative to Islam, the desperate and starving people of the world will grab on to whatever hope seems more real. Watered-down Christianity is going to come in second to a strong Islam with a message and answers to real problems. A strong belief system, Shariah law, dhimmi taxes, and alms for the poor will go a long way in the post-American world.
Don’t rule out the coasts. The southeast is on one of those coasts. If we can survive as a Christian nation (and that’s the only way we will survive what is to come), the southeast and middle of the country will be the only places that even have a chance to make it. The liberal middle and upper Atlantic, along with the rust belt and west coast is lost. We would do best to cut them loose now and I wish there was a way to divide the nation. But even the strongly religious and nationalist South is getting weak as the communists indoctrinate our children and the media accuses us of racism every time we open our mouths.