The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire...2.0

                 I have recently been perusing various articles on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in order to see what similarities, if any, there may be to the remarkable American Devolution occurring now. I culled the following five major reasons from amongst the many pages of fact and opinion that I digested, largely because they were mentioned in nearly every recounting of the Roman dissolution. I present them here in no particular order:

*Invasion by Barbarians and the arrival of the Huns

*A financial crisis brought on by government overspending and oppressive taxation

*Widespread government incompetence and corruption leading the people to lose faith in their leaders

*Citizens losing their civic virtue

*Society (shedding a more disciplined, tougher military lifestyle and) becoming soft and weak

                Any of those sound familiar?

                Every one of these factors ring true today. At first blush, the only one of them that could possibly be logically contested would be “invasion by Barbarians and the arrival of the Huns,” but, that being the case, I would encourage you to think again.

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                                   History recalls how great the fall can be

                                   While everybody’s sleeping, the boats put out to sea

                                   Too late the prophets cry

                                   The island’s sinking, let’s take to the sky

                                   (A snippet from the album, “Even in the Quietest Moments,”  by Supertramp: written by Richard Davies, Roger Hodgson* Copyright© Universal Music Publishing Group)