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Posted by opt4green on March 1, 2009 at 9:12 PM

I thought that this report I did might be of interest for some/(the few) readers of this blog.

Today’s world is organized in such a way that any fluctuations in population, production of goods, demand for goods, and environmental stability can cause major strife in our economy. Today this is especially prevalent. In this essay I will be comparing the current economic situation with that of the Roman Empire when it fell. The reason I do this is because if we look back upon this, one of the most major fluxes in history that left the world in a dark age for almost 1500 years, we can see that there are a lot of similarities between then and now. A wise man once said, “without history we are doomed to repeat the past.” Right now we ARE repeating the past, and we need to stop this violent cycle before it is too late.

The first well-documented example of economic collapse that we can view is that of Rome. Following the domination of almost all of Europe for hundreds of years there were a couple events that caused a sudden, and incurable fall from power. Rome had a powerful leader, the most powerful armies in the area, the most powerful navy, and vast recourses of crops and minerals available to them; yet the Roman empire fell to the hands of its own people. (Western Civilization, Spielvogel pg.126) First of all, there was a split of political parties—early in the Roman Empire there was one supreme ruler, but it became so that there were several people that held the reigns of power—the two major political parties were the “populares”, and the “optimates.” Both parties fought for control in the senate, and it led to a decline and fall in political power and prestige; United we Stand, Divided we fall. “But when our country had grown great through toil and the practice of justice, when great kings had been vanquished in war, savage tribes and mighty people subdued by force of arms, when Carthage, the rival of Rome’s sway, had perished root and branch, and all seas and lands were open, then Fortune began to grow cruel and to bring confusion into all our affairs” (Sallast, “the War with Catiline”, Western Civilization, page 126). Right now it is pretty obvious that there is confusion in our own Senate. The Democrats and Republicans constantly bicker and fight about who, and what, is right, and what Bills and Laws will lift the country from its current state. Yet, they still fail.

Another one of the major downfalls of the Roman Empire was Tax Evasion by the rich. By stashing away their money, and investing much of it before it was taxed they were able to keep their money from the government, money that was depended upon to keep the Empire running (pp. 2-41, T.R Reid, the making of an Empire). This is another one of those things that we see in excess in the United States, people attempting to use government money for themselves rather than for the good of the country. It is not so much in our country that people are evading taxes, but rather that our lawmakers are clueless when it comes to the things that they are spending their money on. In 2003 the United States “LOST” $23 billion dollars; it was not stolen, it was spent, but lawmakers just don’t know where it went--that’s right, they just don’t know. To put this in perspective, 25 billion is enough money to fund the entire department of Justice (Brian Riedl, how your government wastes your money). Pork Barrel Spending is another one of the things that we have to look closely at. It is estimated the Law Makers sunk about 6.6 billion dollars in Pork Barrel Spending in 2007, which is still 23 billion less than the record amount set in 2005 (Pork-Barrel Spending: Republicans Win Transparency, Brian Riedl). Pork Barrel Spending is just lawmakers using government money for things that directly help them, in other words, using government money for their own goals. Sometimes the money can be put to good use, but usually it is not beneficial to our country.

The final straw in the Fall of Glory for the Roman Empire was that it extended its boundaries so far, and was involved in so many wars that it could not properly protect its people. One of the best examples of this is that of Pontius Pilate. Pilate was assigned to be the “procurator” (governor) of Judea. While he was in control he attempted to erect silver statues of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius (Bible Dictionary, page 751). “There was present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Holy Bible, Luke 13:1). This spilling of blood referred to a revolt at a feast caused by anger at the actions of the Romans. Roman soldiers killed what are assumed to be Galilean protestors (Bible Dictionary, Page 751). But, we don’t even need to just look at this minor incident—indeed we can look at the example of a certain Jewish prophet that Pilate was forced to kill.

One of the most well known stories in the entire world is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Jesus was accused of “perverting the nation” and refusing to give tribute to Caesar. Pilate listened to the pleas of the people, and in an effort to placate them, asked Christ if he was the king of the Jews; Jesus’s reply was, “Thou sayest it.” Pilate then went on to say that he found no fault with him because he did not claim to be a king (Holy Bible, Luke 25). This entire conversation was in an effort to calm the people, and avoid the possible conflict that would be caused from killing a man loved by hundreds of thousands of people. When Pilate was forced, still, to convict Jesus, he further attempted to avoid conflict by sending him to Herod (a man who was placed at the “throne” in order to keep up the appearance that the Romans did not have complete power over Israel; in reality Herod had very little power in critical matters, but still enough to convict a “common criminal”). Herod refused to hear the case and convict Jesus, so he was sent back to Pilate. Later on Pilate still insisted that he found no fault with Christ, so as was tradition at a yearly feast, he offered to release him; instead the Jews called for a criminal, Barabbas to be released (Holy Bible, Luke 25). After that Pilate was forced to follow through on the crucifixion. Following this incident which Pilate tried so hard to avoid, there was so much controversy, revolt, and general malcontent that Emperor Tiberius removed Pilate from the seat of power in Judea (Bible Dictionary, Page 751)—It was shortly after this that Rome became a second-rate power.

Similar controversy is found at the heart of the current war on Terror. The United States has placed itself in a position to attempt to change a people that calls our country “The Great Satan” (Ayotollah Sayyid Ruholla Musavi Khomeini), and is failing miserably because:
a) they don’t want our help…and
b) the extremists have unlimited resources available from countries hostile to the United States, mainly Iran. (WINES McMANUS,Iran supplying…)

As the years went on Rome gradually lost its power and prestige. The Christians were soon being systematically killed by Emperors Decius, and Diocletian—but this was not enough to solve the problem and stop the bleeding of the Roman Empire (Wester Civilization, Spielvogel pg.164).

The United States is heading down the same path of the Roman Empire. We have already had a “Great Depression” and we are closing in on another one if we are not careful. It is time that Politicians looked to the past to see what they are doing wrong. If they can practice bipartisanship, spend frugally and not spread our power over too much territory we can pull out of this crises.

-Austin Evans

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3 Comments

Reply opt4green

09:16 PM on March 01, 2009

Works Cited

Spielvogel, Jackson J.. Western Civilization. Sixth. Pennsylvania State Institute: Thomas Wadsworth, 2006.

Ayotollah Sayyid Ruholla Musavi Khomeini

Ried, T.R.. "the making of an Empire."National Geographic. 1997.

Reidl, Brian. "how your government wastes your money."Capatilism Magazine. 2005.

Reidl, Brian. "$23 Billion Slush Fund Remains."Heritage Foundation. Web Memo 1517. 2007.

Luke. ST Luke, Holy Bible. King James Version, Isreal

Wines, Michael, and Doyle McManus. U.S. SENT IRAN ARMS FOR HOSTAGE RELEASES; WEAPONS WERE SUPPLIED FOR AID IN FREEING 3 IN LEBANON, GOVERNMENT SOURCES SAY. Los Angeles: Los Angeles Times, 1986. (SIRS)

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