We've definitely grown a lot more authoritarian recently, but are still mostly crony capitalism. Worse case scenario for our government i think will be Authoritarian Oligarchy, that's what the GOP wants anyways.

To answer your question about what benefit for the US it would be, it wouldn't be one, it would just be the fulfillment of the current iteration of the American dream "Fuck all of you as long as I get mine". Sadly we cant vote our way out of it because every ballot is a vote for either "Slow death of America" or "Quick death of America"

I find it ironic that i don't hear "taxation without representation" being mentioned more, its a defining phrase of our country's history, and I haven't been represented by the government since i was old enough to begin thinking about politics.