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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Decline of Empire: Parallels Between the U.S. and Rome

By Doug Casey

But before continuing, please seat yourself comfortably. This article will necessarily cover exactly those things you’re never supposed to talk about—religion and politics—and do what you’re never supposed to do, namely, bad-mouth the military. There are good reasons for looking to Rome rather than any other civilization when trying to see where the U.S. is headed. Everyone knows Rome declined, but few people understand why. And, I think, even fewer realize that the U.S. is now well along the same path for pretty much the same reasons, which I’ll explore shortly.

Rome reached its peak of military power around the year 107 when Trajan completed the conquest of Dacia (the territory of modern Romania). With Dacia, the empire peaked in size, but I’d argue it was already past its peak by almost every other measure. The U.S. reached its peak relative to the world, and in some ways its absolute peak, as early as the 1950s. In 1950 this country produced 50% of the world’s GNP and 80% of its vehicles. Now it’s about 21% of world GNP and 5% of its vehicles. It owned two-thirds of the world’s gold reserves; now it holds one-fourth. It was, by a huge margin, the world’s biggest creditor, whereas now it’s the biggest debtor by a huge margin. The income of the average American was by far the highest in the world; today it ranks about eighth, and it’s slipping........ But it’s not just the U.S.—it’s Western civilization that’s in decline......To Read More...

My Take - As in all historical comparisons there's some valid and some not so valid observations -  leading to correct and incorrect conclusions.  This one is no different.  The reality is that successful civilizations all collapse giving enough time.  Time and attitude are the disintegrating forces of empire.  Rome became a massive welfare state, with total control by a central government, corrupting the entire system.  In short - they went broke, they were controlled by an incompetent elite, and they lost sight of who they were.

Hence, the Romans became lazy, demanding, and unwilling to serve in their own army. There's a reason why Roman armies were no longer Roman, but mostly Germanic in the Western Empire.  That's where the parallel should be obvious. Rome was a socialist state, and the people became selfish, as is explained by Dennis Prager here......

Time and attitude cause the disintegration of Rome based on those three foundational forces - they went broke, they were controlled by an incompetent elite, and they lost sight of who they were.  All other explanations and history about Rome's end are merely parts of the story.....which may or may not have any parallels with the U.S. or western civilization.  Some of what he says seems irrelevant and some of his conclusions seem inappropriate based on what he's saying.  But it's worth reading -  if for no other reason the history.  You may wish to look up the Battle of Adrianople....it's worth reading also. 

One more thing.  I've read Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and he said one thing I think justified that massive work.  "We tolerate despotism because of the things we own." 

Just a thought!

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