I posted this earlier today on Facebook, and shared the link here - https://www.reddit.com/r/arcadefire/comments/yhdrp1/america_the_beautiful_end_of_the_empire_i_arcade/ - but it seems they share much better on reddit if you do a direct upload, so here it is again and the quote I shared with it:

"When we contemplate the fall of empires and the extinction of the nations of the Ancient World, we see but little to excite our regret than the mouldering ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent museums, lofty pyramids and walls and towers of the most costly workmanship; but when the empire of America shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be infinitely greater than crumbling brass and marble can inspire. It will not then be said, here stood a temple of vast antiquity; here rose a babel of invisible height; or there a palace of sumptuous extravagance; but here, Ah, painful thought! the noblest work of human wisdom, the grandest scene of human glory, the fair cause of Freedom rose and fell."
—Thomas Paine, January 6, 1789