So Studious

Prof. O'brien is this round, slightly Irish-looking American man, mid-thirties, who has spent the last two decades in Britain, and received his doctorate from Cambridge in history. He is an extremely adept griot, and adds these well-phrased flourishes of detail to all his lectures, which adds to an already pretty interesting discussion. The bottom line of the class is why great powers rise and fall...and one can imagine the possible midterm question spawn from that egg. Fun.
I try, unsuccessfully, not to completely take over the discussion section. But, really, when anyone suggests that empire building can be benevolent, they are screaming for opposition. Jesus, there are a surprising number of conservative people here...very unsettling. I seem to be the only one willing to criticize our nation at all, of course a large part of that is due to many students being of other disciplines. I think the reason that I seem to be rather obnoxiously more vocal than anyone else, is that this is what I do...what I care about...and where the seeds of my still half-barren education have thus been sowed...I'm trying to work in more farming metaphors while in Cambridge.
Why do Americans want to hold the most power in the world? Why do we fear decline in terms of power? Are the British worse off than they were in the height of the empire? Is the world worse off? Please feel free to post comments quotable on my exam.