... I look forward to intelligent, reasoned arguments for how Bitcoin will again find a value north of $300.
Never is a long time. The US dollar is an empire-backed currency, Bitcoin is a distributed ledger protocol on the internet. Which of these do you think has the longer lifespan?
Historically speaking empires have lifespans measured in single digit centuries.That is so true.
Empires have a tendency for self-destruction caused by greed.
The Great Roman Empire for example.