The Holy Mormon Empire

As sure as one day the sun will burn out forever leaving the Earth a dark uninhabitable rock, there will come a time long before that when the United States no longer exists. As time erodes us it does the same for nations. Whole civilizations have come and gone, and the the United States will be no exception. So what happens when the hegemonic power of the federal government is no longer able to exert itself over all the regions that compose this country each with its own unique customs, shared history, and culture? Inevitably new nations will be crafted out of these smaller pieces. There maybe a weak central power that resides over a lose confederation, but it will surely lack the resources and powers to moderate and control relationships of these new states. So what next? I predict the Mormons will be a social group that will not only survive but may very will flourish in this scenario. The smiling faces of young congenial missionaries was not always the first thing people though of when the church of latter day saints came up. The Mormons like any other religion in its institutional infancy was considered a cult by the dominate political and religious figures in the country and had to suffer the violence of an official sanctioned pogrom carried out by the state of Missouri with the blessing of president Buchanan.They were exiled and their religion, their collective of shared beliefs was a strong enough social adhesive for the society to survive its birth and maturation. The Mormons understanding the role geography plays in the strength and longevity of a community established their Capitol one of the most potent symbols of lasting power. So I believe the Mormon church has put created the conditions favorable to them in the even of a national breakdown. There will come a time when the physical Mormons communities will be driven to expand and they will ride out of the deserts of Utah the same way the Mongols did out centuries ago to take what they need. The far less organized groups that stand in their way will be consumed by them. The water of the great lakes will attract them to the east. Then the Church of Latter Day Saints will have its empire...for a while.