Disasters that are causes by man.

Nomenclature,

Do you honestly believe that America is the exception to the rule of the thousands of dominant civilisations which preceded it?

Not at all. My point is merely that the US Constitution defines what constitutes the United States of America. That means that when the US Constitution stops being applied as the framework for what the US government does and what United States of America is, the political reality of the nation, which is defined in that particular document will be no longer be the thing it is defined to be, thereby ceasing to exist as such.

This is a merely the application of definitional aspects of a nation created specifically by the application of a set of rules ordained and established by a particular set of people on a particular date in history.

I argue that it has done the precise opposite of evolve.

You should bother to learn some US history before you comment on it.

The precise opposite of evolve is remain static, but the United States has not been at all static.

The US began as a small, sparsely populated nation that avoided "foreign entanglements" as George Washington phrased it. Over the course of about half of its history (1889-1900) the US expanded across a continent, went from 3.6 to 74.6 million people, and began involvement in international conflicts worldwide.

During that time, the US changed from a nation whose economy was based primarily on agricultural activities to one driven equally by industrial activities and technological innovation.

During that time, the US changed from a nation wherein slavery was legal and property ownership was a requirement for voting to one where all men, regardless of race or economic status had the franchise.

That is just in the first half of US history, and much greater political, social, and economic changes occurred in the second half. The US DEFINITELY has evolved.

Sooner or later you are going to be left behind by the Chinese, who are bringing the world into a new age of soft power, where cultural exportation and persuasion replace being threatened with sanctions or war.

Obviously sooner or later EVERYBODY will be left behind by the Chinese. In terms of economic influence, Japan and Europe already have been, and South Korea is next, with the US to follow shortly after.

The standard historical application of Chinese "soft" power has always, and still is, backed by threats of sanctions and war.

Sure, the Chinese use debt and economic power to start the process, but those island military bases China is building in the South China Sea are anything but soft. China is taking oceanic territory from Japan, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines by applying military threat to back up the statement that these particular waters belong to China.

China has stated that any support of Taiwan's independence, despite over half a century of de facto independence, will be met with military action.

China may bring in an age wherein everybody else replaces threats of sanctions or war with "persuasion," but China will continue to use both tacks.