I'm feeling very gloomy right now.
So is it over? Are we a victim of our own success? No denying that free enterprise and Capitalism makes for one heck of a motivator, but it seems that the final end of this economic powerhouse is the meaningless pursuit of material wealth.
Is it possible that such a situation ensures that people don't care about anything bigger then themselves - like the concept of the United States? I that the U.S. has more in common with Rome than even we realize. It goes beyond our obsessions of material wealth and focus on physical beauty.The biggest thing is that the U.S. dosen't have a common culture (like say Iran does), but is instead a Civilization. I don't have a dictonary handy, but I believe that a Civilization is made up of such things as laws where a culture is language, food, common history etc.
The Roman Republic lost what made it culturally unique centuries before it finally became an official Empire. By the time the Empire was declared the population was a mass of different ethnic groups. The Empire was no more Roman than than the U.S. is Anglo - Saxon. I speculate that we are transforming into the new Roman Empire. As an amatuer history buff who has always focused on Rome I'm not very thrilled with this idea.
Perhaps it's impossible for participatory democracy and the accumulation of wealth and power to hand in hand? That whole thing about power corrupting and so on don't you know.
Like Rome I don't forsee anyone being a total threat to our physical security. Perhaps the Civil War, World Wars and the Cold War were what the Punic Wars and the Social Wars were for Rome. They transformed Rome into a superpower, which made the Empire powerful, but also crippled it. Seems the more power a nation has the less freedom they have to use it. Nevertheless I do believe that the Republic is on it's knees. We won't collapse - far from it. But we are turning into the 21st century version of an Empire.
I find that a very sad prospect, but we were warned of this situation over a century ago. Guess we should have listened.
So what's your take?
So is it over? Are we a victim of our own success? No denying that free enterprise and Capitalism makes for one heck of a motivator, but it seems that the final end of this economic powerhouse is the meaningless pursuit of material wealth.
Is it possible that such a situation ensures that people don't care about anything bigger then themselves - like the concept of the United States? I that the U.S. has more in common with Rome than even we realize. It goes beyond our obsessions of material wealth and focus on physical beauty.The biggest thing is that the U.S. dosen't have a common culture (like say Iran does), but is instead a Civilization. I don't have a dictonary handy, but I believe that a Civilization is made up of such things as laws where a culture is language, food, common history etc.
The Roman Republic lost what made it culturally unique centuries before it finally became an official Empire. By the time the Empire was declared the population was a mass of different ethnic groups. The Empire was no more Roman than than the U.S. is Anglo - Saxon. I speculate that we are transforming into the new Roman Empire. As an amatuer history buff who has always focused on Rome I'm not very thrilled with this idea.
Perhaps it's impossible for participatory democracy and the accumulation of wealth and power to hand in hand? That whole thing about power corrupting and so on don't you know.
Like Rome I don't forsee anyone being a total threat to our physical security. Perhaps the Civil War, World Wars and the Cold War were what the Punic Wars and the Social Wars were for Rome. They transformed Rome into a superpower, which made the Empire powerful, but also crippled it. Seems the more power a nation has the less freedom they have to use it. Nevertheless I do believe that the Republic is on it's knees. We won't collapse - far from it. But we are turning into the 21st century version of an Empire.
I find that a very sad prospect, but we were warned of this situation over a century ago. Guess we should have listened.
So what's your take?
