We see the Roman Empire grow and then crumble. Why is this?
The Romans developed a REPUBLIC. Which is what the US is. A REPUBLIC NOT A DEMOCRACY.
With this, certain laws and issues are made and resolved. The government grows and with this, so does the population. The roman empire expanded greatly into southern europe and the middle east. With this, there were many problems which they faced, but dealt with by having its people elect officials in which they wanted to represent them in government. This brought all of their problems into the government to be fixed.