An honest answer to Americas greatness.

[kvnchrist]

[Keanumoreira]

Very true and very inspiring.

 

 

If I may, I would like to compare this nation's current state with that of the gradual collapse of the Roman empire, the greatest civilization of that time:

 

 

1. Inflation: To be honest, my knowledge on why this country suffers from inflation is dim. What I do know is that it involves the devaluing of money to compensate for a lack thereof, which causes prices to rise while wages remain the same. Trade declines, industry suffers, and people end up without a job. The Romans suffered from severe inflation, a lot of it having to do with paying soldiers and with frontier conquest.The economic crisis of today sees a familiar correlation with that of the Roman's, of which, was one of the major factors that contributed to their downfall.

 

2. A welfare state: Because of the economic issues that the Roman's had, the emperors were faced with a lot of unrest (jobless citizens [among others] flocked to the cities, especially to Rome, where they created a constant fear of rebellion). To help calm them, "bread and circuses" were enacted, in which at the Circus Maximus, free bread was offered to the crowd along with free entertainment. A lot of citizens thought "well great; the government provides all my needs; I don't have to work." Society atrophies, further accelerating the economic collapse. The same thing is happening with america's welfare system. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people depend on it for the right reasons, but there are those who take advantage, and that simply doesn't help the rest of us. Without incentive, this nation is headed to nowhere.

 

3. Excessive importation: This one's a biggie. If anything, Rome had this to share with America: it imported more than it exported. If you import more than you export, that means that you're losing money. It isn't staying in the country because that money is going elsewhere. The same thing is happening here in America: most of our imports come from China, which means that more than other country, they're profiting on us. Kinda makes sense that China is beginning to replace us.

 

4. Political unrest: Now, for the Romans, political unrest was a consequence of the disruption of the royal bloodline. I don't remember who it began with, but one of the emperors began the tradition of adopting a successor instead of granting the throne to the eldest son. Power could be seized by anyone. It was because of this that many emperors were assassinated, throwing the empire into a constant state of civil war. In America, that really isn't the case, except for the fact that we are politically divided, and that certainly does not help our cause. It's like the old saying goes: "A house divided cannot stand," and Lincoln was right (ironic for a Republican who chose one side of the fence over the other); the founding fathers themselves did not approve of political parties because they knew the risks that came with it. It also doesn't help that we are represented by a long line of incompetent politicians. That's another problem that needs to be cleaned up.

 

 

That's just a touch up of the myriad of problems this country faces, but it's a frightening prospect when compared to what a similar fate has befallen past civilizations. I would hope a lot of this is common knowledge, and therefore, wouldn't need sources to back it up, but if not, I'm sure there are some scholarly sites to be found. I don't have time at the moment to find any myself, but I'll glad to post some if requested.

[HeyYou]

One important factor in all that is: Our government has already demonstrated, on several occassions, that they are incapable of learning anything from history. Therefore, I fully expect the current trend to continue, right up until our economy implodes. Once the dust settles, it will be interesting to see what happens. Not that I expect to survive it.

[Dark0ne]

That clip is from the first episode of The Newsroom, a show which has 2 complete seasons thus far and has just been signed on for another, from Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing fame.

 

It revolves around the creation of a news team who are trying to create a news show that's free of bias and presents stories from all sides rather than focusing on what that news' agencies political/economical/friend bias dictates. Basically, exactly what any current news show in America isn't. Unfortunately it manages to go to great lengths to simply be a 2 season long bashing session of the Tea Party/Republicans, where they point out all the stupid things they've done without ever focusing on what the stupid Democrats have done, of which there are also many, which kind of falls flat on the entire premise of the show they're trying to achieve, for me at least. In fact, by the end of season 2, you could be excused for thinking it was actually extreme liberal propaganda.

 

Thankfully, as I'm British and have the viewpoint that American politics is absolutely god-awful with not a hope in hell of ever working again I cared very little for this aspect of the show and enjoyed it for what it was; an Aaron Sorkin show full of the same optimistic idealism and amusing "quick wit" which basically made it The West Wing in a news room. I liked the West Wing so I like the Newsroom.

 

It's worth a watch so long as you can get over the blatant political bias.

[roquefort]

"A welfare state: Because of the economic issues that the Roman's had, the emperors were faced with a lot of unrest (jobless citizens [among others] flocked to the cities, especially to Rome, where they created a constant fear of rebellion). To help calm them, "bread and circuses" were enacted"

 

Most of the "jobs" in ancient Rome were done by slaves, so it's a poor analogy if you're making comparisons with the modern USA. The bread & circuses thing was really just pork-barrel politics, it wasn't a welfare state.

 

I'd say that the major weakness that eventually brought down the Roman Empire, assuming it wasn't just old age, was simply that they weren't a particularly inventive people. All of the technology we associate with the Romans was copied from the Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and the various places they conquered. Their skills were military, logistic, administrative, but unlike the Greeks, they really weren't into research into new ideas (there was the arch though -- give them that). This lack of ideas, of science, might well have been the ultimate cause of their downfall (mind you, the Holy Roman Empire, as opposed to the military empire, survived through to the 19th century, just).

Edited October 17, 2013 by roquefort

[JimboUK]

One important factor in all that is: Our government has already demonstrated, on several occassions, that they are incapable of learning anything from history. Therefore, I fully expect the current trend to continue, right up until our economy implodes. Once the dust settles, it will be interesting to see what happens. Not that I expect to survive it.

 

Career politicians, they have no experience of anything so struggle to come up with new solutions to problems, instead they just keep doing what has been shown to fail in the past in the hope that it works this time.

 

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein

[Keanumoreira]

"A welfare state: Because of the economic issues that the Roman's had, the emperors were faced with a lot of unrest (jobless citizens [among others] flocked to the cities, especially to Rome, where they created a constant fear of rebellion). To help calm them, "bread and circuses" were enacted"

 

Most of the "jobs" in ancient Rome were done by slaves, so it's a poor analogy if you're making comparisons with the modern USA. The bread & circuses thing was really just pork-barrel politics, it wasn't a welfare state.

 

I'd say that the major weakness that eventually brought down the Roman Empire, assuming it wasn't just old age, was simply that they weren't a particularly inventive people. All of the technology we associate with the Romans was copied from the Greeks, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and the various places they conquered. Their skills were military, logistic, administrative, but unlike the Greeks, they really weren't into research into new ideas (there was the arch though -- give them that). This lack of ideas, of science, might well have been the ultimate cause of their downfall (mind you, the Holy Roman Empire, as opposed to the military empire, survived through to the 19th century, just).

 

Yes, most jobs were conducted by slaves; in fact, they replaced the poor farmers who were losing their land to the Senate (the same people who joined the growing masses in Rome and created unrest for the emperors to deal with). I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the middle-class. The merchants, for instance, who are doing nothing because they don't have to do anything. Trade declines, the economy suffers.

 

And no, that is not what caused their downfall. They borrowed much, but what caused the empire to collapse was a serious economic crisis, political turmoil, and because of these two, increasing invasions by barbarians (such as the Goths and Germans).

 

Two of these three problems can be found in the American government.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Keanumoreira

[JimboUK]

 

This guy hits the nail on the head.