The Roman and US Empires: A point of view
“There is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action.”
— Goethe
The fall of the Roman Empire has been the subject of much debate and comment for many centuries. Indeed, the founding of our own republic was built on the founder’s of this country’s understanding of the Roman Empire, its rise, decline and fall. Thus, attempts to learn from history were present in the period of this country’s constitutional development known as the ‘Enlightenment’ .
However, many if not most writers on the subject agree on some fundamental causes for the eventual fall of Rome.
They are:
1). Over-militarization and military overreach 2); Bankruptcy and Indebtness as well as a widening gap between rich and poor 3); the imposition of dogmatic religious fundamentalism as the state religion, 4); the denigration of rational thought in favor of faith, and, 5), the moral decay and Bread and Circus within the Roman Empire.
The following are ideas taken from the books: The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips and The Closing of the Western Mind by Charles Freeman – all are NY Times Best Selling Books. There are many other books as well.
Let us briefly, for we have little time, look at each one. You by no means have to agree with the analysis put forward, but it should give you some pause for thought as it is widely accepted among scientists and anthropologists.
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