HONG KONG — Is the United States heading for disaster when the country goes to the polls Tuesday to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate?

Sadly, it looks as if the country may take a giant stride toward the loss of its superpower status, especially if, as opinion polls predict, Republicans take control of the House and win enough seats to deny President Barack Obama effective control of the Senate.

The image of Nero fiddling as Rome burned comes to mind when seeing the bitter partisan political infighting while the U.S. faces immense international challenges, some of its own making, to its political domination, while its economy teeters on the edge of a double-dip recession and financial ruin.