Editor’s Note: A longtime journalist, Margo Howard went into the family business (her mother was the fabled Ann Landers) in the 1990s as Dear Prudence. Her broad experience and understanding of human nature provide answers for the troubled — and entertainment for everyone else. Margo’s advice column, Dear Margo, appears twice a week — on Thursdays and Fridays — on wowOwow.com.

There is much talk, in intellectual circles and out, about whither America; whither the world? Where are we headed? What path are we on? It is impossible to know, of course, but I had a most interesting conversation (first by phone, then e-mail) with a longtime friend who works in a sensitive part of the government. He doesn’t know more than we do (well, actually he probably does!) but he has thought about this question to a greater degree than most people, I would guess. He is professionally concerned with war, and wishes not to be named. I share with you his hypothesis, extrapolating to the best of my ability what he said, because it makes a great deal of sense.

This chap believes that our world is headed back to a medieval-like period … not something that will happen next week or next year, but more a trend for the century. He points to the fact that there was Rome. There was the British empire. History will record the twentieth century as that of the USA. The previous empires did not last, and he believes the American "empire" will not, either.

The reasons it cannot last, he believes, are as simple as the laws of physics. The generally accepted numbers at the turn of the last century were that America had 5% of the world’s population and used 25% of the world’s energy. Numbers like that simply are not sustainable, in terms of relative energy usage or production in a growing world.

Technology is also a great leveler. In the midst of the twentieth century much of America’s great technology was homegrown. Not all, but much. We kept producing great ideas, but production was transferred elsewhere. Now the cost of production has dropped and many more people can afford top-end technology. An advanced cellular smart phone has more computing power than was used to build the first nuclear bomb or the Apollo spaceships that took men to the moon – 40 years ago this month.

As technology spreads, so does the fundamental level of education. That does not mean tribesmen in the middle of Africa or the Amazon are necessarily becoming fluent in Java programming, but many more people in the first and second world are. Whether or not America’s great educational system is crumbling, others are definitely gaining.

The Cold War was a containment war. It will be a long time before any other single country can lead a coalition in such global containment again. A war against religious extremists cannot be fought that way, and as the world becomes more interconnected there is also a problem with American foreign policy. To understand this problem, all you have to do is understand the game of football (which he does and I do not) as played by Americans, as contrasted with the way it is played by non-Americans.

Ask any American, he said, about the game of football and he or she will tell you it is played by selected large men wearing massive amounts of padding. It is a violent game with many arcane rules. Everyone agrees on when a play starts and it keeps going until the progress of the ball grinds to a halt. Both sides then agree to return to their respective sides, figure out what to do, come together and then all start again at a specific point. Furthermore, there are many referees on the field and at the pro level there’s the use of instant replay so everyone can agree on what happened. There is also a single clock. Everyone sees the clock, everyone understands the rules about the clock and everyone agrees the game is over when the one big game clock everyone sees finally gets to zero.