Living Through the Fall of Rome

5 responses so far

• 1 SFTor1 // Oct 27, 2009 at 12:18 am

  According to the book “How The Irish Saved Civilization”, the main reason for the fall of the Roman Empire was bestowing responsibility for tax revenues on the Equestrii, the middle class of the period.

  I don’t know whether there is a parallel to today, when the middle class is being bled for health care and in many other ways, but it bears a thought.

• 2 DFL // Oct 27, 2009 at 9:16 am

  I was disappointed with Peter Heather’s “The Fall of the Roman Empire”. It was often turgid and did not offer much analysis of an empire in decline. Professor Heather puts most of the blame for Rome’s decline from outside forces, which left me skeptical. An empire the size of rome’s doesn’t fall because a few Gothic tribes overuns its frontier. So I will take David Frum’s advice and read Chris Wickham’s book.

• 3 Reason60 // Oct 27, 2009 at 1:08 pm

  There are as many theories about the fall of Rome as there are historians. I have heard everything from moral decay to lead in their drinking water.
  Of course, we need to take some perspective; Rome was a city-state for 1,100 years; it was an Empire for about 500. America has existed for a little over 200 years, only the last 50 or so as an Empire.
  So while its easy to view Rome as a failing and tragic entity, it was actually wildly successful for a longer period than any other Empire I can think of (except perhaps the Byzanties, who sat secure for about another 1,100 years until overrun by the Ottomans).

  And of course there is much hand wringing about the parallels to America. I recall people making this claim as early as the 1970’s, about America declining, all the way up to Charles Krauthammer today.

  Of course seeing the sunset of American Empire is a bad thing, only if you consider Imperial America as the rightful vision of the American experiment in republican democracy.

• 4 Willems // Oct 27, 2009 at 4:22 pm

  I think it is time to think seriously about America in relation to the European Union and the influence it is and will be having. The simple truth is that Europe is uniting fast and deep. Europe is starting to look stronger and more intelligent that the the United States on many fronts. Obama clearly is leaning in this direction. In Europe, Republicans are not understood or respected.

  In a secular high tech world, Republicans look lonely and out of touch.

  In my opinion, Republican policy makers should think deeply about issues of labour, and essentially discover new ways to build and maximize human capital. This is an area is open for inovation. The welfare state is slow and heavy. The American system rewards the the ambitious but leaves many out in the co, ld. Inovation will require itelligent and interdisciplinary solutions. Simply put, Republicans need to get smarter, more open minded, and out think Europe, not to mention the Democrats.

• 5 DFL // Oct 27, 2009 at 5:04 pm

  Europeans are also experiencing a birth dearth that will make its welfare state untenable. The millions of fertile Muslims living in Europe is also a dire problem.

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