| On the Fall of Empires
A. Scott Piraino
This is how Rome fell. First a vibrant empire comprised
of wealthy citizens was reduced to an aristocracy. Then that decadent,
impoverished empire was overcome by external enemies.
Roman civilization has many parallels to our own. The
Roman Empire is a historical construct, contemporary Romans always
referred to their country as a Republic. Of course Rome was an
empire, as successive Emperors consolidated power and began ruling far
flung provinces. But the republican values were an egalitarian fiction
until the fall of Rome. It is interesting to note that the United States
is never officially referred to as an empire, although our country has
assumed many imperial characteristics.
As their empire expanded, the Romans built the greatest
road network the world had ever seen so their marching legions could
defend any threatened territory. These roads facilitated trade and
commerce, and were necessary for the growth of the Empire. After WW II,
the United States began construction of the Federal Highway system, to
move tanks in the event the US was ever invaded. These highways have not
just radically improved transportation, they have affected the growth of
suburbs, malls, and even whole cities.
The Romans built great coliseums to celebrate sporting
events and watch plays or other public entertainments. Our sports
amphitheaters are actually modeled on these Roman designs. Aside from
modern technology, there is very little difference between the Superdome
and the Parthenon. We are also a culture that worships entertainment.
Instead of plays and gladiators, we have football teams, rock bands, and
movie stars.
But besides our public works, the United States shares
other, more disturbing similarities with the Roman Empire.
In the early Roman period the curials were the backbone
of society. These were middle class landowners who could vote, and fought
in the legions during times of war. By the end of the Empire, the curials
had been reduced to the status of serfs. Wealth was concentrated in the
hands of a few landowners, and the curials worked the land for them.
The Fall of the Roman Empire can be traced to the demise
of the republican values that created it. In modern terms we can compare
this to the death of our middle class. Our country was founded not just on
Democratic principles, but the idea that the people were the owners
of the country.
The first Americans were predominantly small farmers who
owned their land, (with the exception of the black slaves, of course). In
early American history just as in Rome, voting and military service where
the duties of citizenship, and ownership of property was a right. As
industrialization eclipsed agriculture, rural farmers became urban factory
workers. But the goal of life in America has always been the same, to own
a house, buy a car, in short, to live the American dream.
Over the past twenty years, the ability of the average
American to live that dream has all but disappeared. Per capita income
continues to climb only because a small number of Americans have grown
much wealthier. Incomes for the working poor and middle class Americans
have stagnated, and even declined. The average American is increasingly a
renter, not an owner.
Twenty years ago a high school graduate in Akron Ohio
could look forward to a lifetime of factory employment, and earn enough
from his wages to buy a house, and a car . Today Akron Ohio consists of
ghettos and boarded up factories. Those jobs have moved to China and
Mexico, and what were once middle class neighborhoods are now tenements
for the poor.
How did this happen? To answer that, we must address the
issue of leadership.
The first Roman Emperors were crusaders for the Glory of
Rome. After the initial conquests of France, Britain, and the
Mediterranean, the Roman borders remained essentially unchanged for three
hundred years. The later Emperors maintained the trappings of the earlier
heroic period, but they served themselves, not the greater good of Rome.
Our founding fathers were idealists. They can rightfully
be compared to Caesar, and the early Romans. But though our present
leadership uses the same slogans, and shrouds their policies in the same
idealism, it is clear they don't believe in anything. It is said that Nero
fiddled while Rome fell, our leadership has fiddled as well, while our
country has descended into mediocrity.
The source of our economic decline can be traced to
Ronald Reagan and his successors. Reaganomics was nothing more than an
excuse to cut taxes for the rich. Just as free trade is an argument for
exporting manufacturing jobs to foreign nations where our corporations can
pay much lower wages.
In 1981 the United States was the largest creditor
nation in history. Today our national debt stands at over six trillion
dollars and growing. In addition, our country has exported over three
trillion dollars to foreign producers. The US posted a trade deficit of
over 400 billion dollars last year, a new record high.
Our budget deficits transfer wealth from taxpayers to
bondholders. Our trade deficits transfer wealth from American consumers to
offshore producers. These huge transfers of wealth are responsible for the
death of our middle class.
Ronald Reagan was either a demented fool or a corrupt
servant of the rich, depending on whether he believed his own agenda or
not. But there can be no doubt about his successors. George Bush the First
called Reagan's policies "voodoo" economics while campaigning
against him, then carried on the same policies during his four years in
office.
In 1992 when the Democrats returned to office, our
country had an opportunity to reverse the corrupt policies of the Reagan
era. Instead we elected a cheap whore named Bill Clinton. His
administration continued the same policies, only in a trendier, more
liberal guise.
George Bush II has wasted no time getting back to
Reaganomics, passing two tax cut packages into law that favor the wealthy,
and supporting more free trade agreements. The difference of course is
that our country is already over six trillion in debt, and we are the
biggest debtor nation in history.
We are also at war.
The Roman Empire did not fall to one superior
enemy. Rather the Empire died the death of a thousand cuts, suffering
repeated attacks against her frontiers and invasions by increasingly
larger and better organized enemies. By the end of the Empire, Roman
citizens were loathe to join the legions and defend their country.
The dangerous job of soldiering was left to slaves, and
foreign mercenaries. The date for the fall of the Roman Empire is commonly
noted as 476 A. D. The year a Germanic mercenary commanding Roman armies
deposed the last, enfeebled Roman Emperor.
Today's US servicemen are predominantly poor whites and
poor blacks, even foreign citizens are allowed to enlist to fill the
ranks. Our youth increasingly distain the armed forces, preferring a more
relaxed urban lifestyle. For those young Americans who do opt for military
service, there is plenty of action.
After September 11th, President Bush ordered
an invasion of Afghanistan, seeking the terrorists responsible for the
attacks. Osama Bin Laden has not been found, nor has the Al Qaeda
terrorist network been eliminated. But 8000 US troops are still in
Afghanistan, enduring ambushes, bombings, and fighting an elusive enemy.
No one could question our right to attack Afghanistan
after September 11th, but that moral authority has been
squandered by the reckless invasion of Iraq. 150,000 US troops are now
attempting to occupy the country against increasing resistance from
indigenous guerrillas. One third of our standing Army is now committed to
Iraq and Afghanistan, and the War on Terror is far from won.
President Bush's imperial ambitions have scattered our
Armed Forces across the globe. Now his administration has publicly
threatened Iran, as if occupying the entire Middle East will somehow
eliminate terrorism. Rather these unwarranted attacks are winning over
Arabs to a radical form of Islam, while providing targets to those
militants by sending US troops into their midst.
The occupation of Iraq is unraveling, and showing signs
of becoming a full fledged guerrilla war. North Korea will certainly have
nuclear weapons within a few months, and they have missiles that can reach
Alaska and our bases in Asia. Nor can we discount China. That nation is
now the world's third largest economy, thanks to our trade deficits, and
no friend of the United States.
The American people have good reasons to fear for the
future, and nowhere to turn for answers. Roman civilization faced this
uncertainty as well, and by searching, found new answers. The end of the
Roman Empire was also the end of the ancient world, and the rise of a
monotheistic religion known as Christianity.
Roman civilization was so much more advanced than
anything before it, so much wealthier, more comfortable and safe, that
people's view of the universe began to change. In the early Roman period
pantheons of gods like Zeus and Apollo were worshipped, and great temples
were built to honor them. But after centuries of peace and prosperity
sacrificing to these old gods seemed superstitious, even quaint.
As the old ways declined Romans sought cults, astrology,
and mystic traditions to address their spiritual needs, before the Empire
converted to Christianity. The first Christians were young, urban,
educated Romans. The rural people held to the old ways the longest,
sacrificing to the old gods, maintaining shrines to local spirits, and
keeping up the sacrifices. The word "pagan" is Latin for rural
person, with the connotation of hillbilly or hick.
Just as the old gods made no sense to the late Romans,
Christianity makes no sense in the modern world. The new generations of
Americans, baby boomers and their progeny, don't look to the Christian
faith anymore. Younger, more modern Americans seek new age bookstores and
any number of wonkish solutions to their spiritual questions.
The last vestiges of Christianity in our country can be
found predominantly in rural America. There you can still find people who
go to church on Sundays and read, or even believe, the Bible. They are
the pagans, the rural people holding to the old ways.
The cynicism and moral relativity of these times is part
of this change in the way we view our universe.
We have called the future post-modern, the information
age, the space age, and the nuclear age. Whatever this new age is,
we are seeing its birth in our time. Part of that change is a new
morality, a new spirituality if you will.
But faith that all will end as it should is no excuse
for the incompetence and corruption of our national leadership. Historians
will look back on the Reagan, Clinton, and Bush administrations as an era
of decadence and decline. Our economy is left tottering, our enemies are
plotting our destruction, and we are left with an inevitable sense of
fatalism about the future.
This too shall pass.
A. Scott Piraino populist21@yahoo.com
I am a populist. It's a very simple ideology really. Although
there are two sides to every issue, when those issues affect people
the only choice is between right and wrong. I try to be right.
Visit my weblog at http://www.xanga.com/ThePopulist
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