That having been said, the extent to which you find this argument persuasive depends on the extent to which you believe America has cancer and will die in three months in the absence of intervention. And this is where this analogy, like all analogies before it, breaks down when you begin to press on it. There’s no objective evidence that America is on the verge of a nation-ending event, and to the extent that there is, it’s mainly about the chance that President Trump will start a nuclear war.

Growth is stale, but there are no signs of catastrophic imminent collapse either economically or militarily. I say “catastrophic” and “imminent” on purpose, because as it happens I do agree that America has a disease that will eventually be crippling and fatal, and I agree that the disease has many of the same symptoms that Thor sees. But I think a more realistic assessment of the path and speed of the disease would be something more like MS – still terrible, but with symptoms that are manageable with proper care. The current progress of the disease is indeed eventually crippling and possibly fatal, but its progress is relatively slow and in the meantime there is realistic hope for the development of a cure. In those circumstances, would you take yourself, your wife, or your kids to the clinic in Mexico to get them treatment from the midget wrestler people?