Doug Casey: The US has had a good, long run as a beacon of freedom for the entire world, but nothing lasts forever. Things started changing radically with the War Between the States, and the ascendancy of progressives like Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Then came FDR with his New Deal, and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. And it's accelerated downhill from there.

The trend in the US is critically important. However, Western civilization is in decline throughout the world. And it's more than just a civilizational issue. There's a rot in ethics, philosophy, and even the makeup of the population. People of European descent are declining all over the world, especially in Europe itself, where the native population is dropping rapidly. Even in the United States, figures show that the white population dropped by 250,000 in the last year, while the populations of all other ethnic groups rose substantially.

So, to answer the question: Apart from the huge and obvious changes in technology, I think the US founders would find the country culturally unrecognizable. This trend is underscored by the presumptive election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York. He's young, affable, charismatic. His appeal is understandable relative to the corrupt and constipated alternatives. But he's also a Muslim communist who openly wants to overthrow what's left of American traditions in the largest and most important city in the country.

I discussed this at some length in a conversation with Matt Smith on our podcast.

International Man: What do you see as the most dangerous erosions of civil liberties in the US today—and how did we get here?

Doug Casey: All things become corrupt and wind down over time. The Second Law of Thermodynamics affects political systems just as it does the physical world. Everything degrades and dissolves. Unfortunately, that includes the US Constitution. It's been interpreted, amended, and disregarded into a dead letter.