One can see the US's current success at the 2014 World Cup, the fact that it's now seriously counted as a participant in the world's favorite sport, as actually a sign, an indication of its decline. The better the US becomes a football, the more it is a part of (rather than apart from) the international community proper, and this only serves to dim the glow of its exceptionalism...
30-foot tall Marilyn Monroe tossed into trash heap in China http://t.co/divO7Dx7n2 pic.twitter.com/nedUV0vYXj
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 19, 2014