Mentors, mentees and what they do in society

What single thing - besides its huge economy - makes America a great nation? It is its influence on almost everything in the world. The rest of the world has been reduced to copying America - from the English language, pop culture to its venerable institutions of democracy.

Over time, the US has produced some of the best and worst combinations of mentors and mentees. Its various leaders of thought, culture, and presidents deliberately or inadvertently influence the rest of the world. It behaves as if it is a geopolitical re-incarnation of ancient Greek city-state of Athens whose sense of self-righteousness and disdain for others led to destruction in the Peloponnesian War.