That is your local city and county, not the "American empire". And your judgement in choosing where you live!8))
Take a drive on an interstate highways. Whenever I take an Uber/Lyft to the airport I ask the usually (more like 100%) foreign born driver to compare the highway (I5) and the airport (SeaTac) with the same from his country. The comparison is bad for the US.
US is a third world country, but Americans do no want to admit that.
Is your local city and county not part of the empire?
If the empire doesn't have any cities and counties, it must have already collapsed.