What does empire provide that is so appealing? Simple:
You can complain about all the stuff you want, but so long as people have access to this stuff, they’re not going to say squat about the system. It’s only when it’s all taken away that people start to see the issues, but once you’re at that point, you have no power to do anything about it. The only people who have power to change things won’t do anything about it, and people on the lower rungs just want to climb up to the top. It’s rich people & poor people who want to be rich. Very few people on purpose want to give up all this stuff.
Now that everyone has these goodies, nobody complains, and so the system will just keep going along. Nobody wants to be that person to give this stuff up, like why would I ditch video games & grocery stores, and how would I replace that stuff? This is where people idiotically say, “do you want us to live in the stone age? What’s your plan?” and I have to say there are other options, but I don’t have a plan.
This is probably why collapse is the only option, reform is impossible. The only hope is building on top of the ruins of this society when it falls apart, or maybe living in some little pocket somewhere, but I don’t see much hope in either one.