Roman Redux ?

America and the Roman Republic/Empire have each had an immense impact on their respective ages. We haven't yet been around as long as Rome, but taking into account modern time compression, our worldwide impact has been as enormous. We are loved, hated, and emulated.

Rome is also a cautionary tale, and the founding fathers constructed a republic of checks and balances in order to avoid the fate of the Roman Republic. Despite the founders best intentions, all my life, I've heard that we are becoming more "Roman" in many undesirable ways. My 6th grade teacher, for example, warned against American emulation of Roman "bread and circuses". Then, (in 1966) the reaction to LBJ's "Great Society" was setting in, and apprehension of welfare state supported decadence was starting to grow. What you don't like about Rome, or modern America, has as much to do with your own political perspective as anything.

Today, a whole host of books have recently come out making comparisons between us and Rome such as: "Are We Rome?:The Fall of a Empire and the Fate of America" by Cullen Murphy or "New Dark Age Ahead" by Jane Jacobs. Also, there a number analyzing the "fall" like: "The Fall of the Roman Empire: "A New History of Rome and the Barbarians" by Peter Heather or "The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization" by Bryan Ward-Perkins.

By the way, whether or not there was EVEN a "fall", or simply a "transformation", has been debated throughout my lifetime. Lately, the "fall" guys have been making a comeback. And, whether you believe there was a "fall" or not, ALSO depends a lot on your political point of view too. Like Pollyanna said: "..why, those German invaders were simply contributing to the multicultural diversity of Roman society.." Yes, of course, I get it now!

I do agree that there was a "fall", AND a "transformation" too. Your society would certainly be "transformed" if its government were to "fall" and be taken over by a horde of well armed barbarians.

Let's forget about the PC BS. We are not "all the same" and we have to ask ourselves how could such a group of backward barbarians take over the most advanced society on earth? Something must have gone astray with that society long before the Goths arrived in Rome. And, ever since Edward Gibbon, we've been trying to figure out even which questions to ask. Let's ask the main questions.

Let's start with sexual deviancy and orgies. (Now, I have your attention.) Was Roman moral corruption the culprit? Roman orgies and Satyricon like escapades are legendary. However, chronicles of the empire of sexual deviance occurred at the height of its prowess . By the time the Goths walked through the Salarian gate in 410(yes, "walked" -- the descendants of Caesar's legions opened the gate), Christian mores prevailed. Christian Bishops such as Ambrose, forced emperors such as Theodosius, to public penance a few years earlier for their excesses. (Caligula wouldn't have approved.) In a Christian sense, the Rome of Late Antiquity, wasn't decadent.

Was the problem one of the concentration of power in fewer and fewer hands? Such a problem certainly weakens a society's political culture. And, America certainly has a problem with the growing concentration of executive power. From the White House to town halls, power is increasingly held in executive hands. At the federal level, our government more and more resembles the Principate of Augustus, which preserved the appearance of a republic but concentrated all power in the emperor's hands. At the small town level, the "Imperial Presidency" is mimicked across America as more and more power is concentrated in executive hands under the pretense of "executive streamlining".

Or, is the problem one of a people who have given up and can't or won't defend themselves? Certainly, by the time of the late empire, Romans were scarce in the barbarian dominated legions. Romans were no longer fighters. Aetius was a loner. They had also given up on civic (curiale) activity and were the kind of sheep that we don't usually associate with the vigorous defense of anything.

America isn't there yet. Our military is a great barometer of realty and it's hardly a barbarized Roman entity. Overwhelmingly, our middle class supports our military. We, also, still volunteer to serve our local communities. We may be ignored or held in contempt by the rising tide of bureaucratic centralizers, and some of our political elite, but we can still mold our community's destiny.

The health of our middle American political culture, which is the backbone of the Republic, is no where near the Roman equivalent of Late Antiquity. What De Tocqueville appreciated and admired in 1835, is still alive locally. With our civic energy, we are unique in the world.

Today, we have no shortage of challenges and need this civic capital. Events like 911 or our current financial crisis would have already brought down a state whose people had ALREADY been reduced to grovelling serfdom.

Although we look less and less like the republic that the founders envisioned, with the machinery of Washington overwhelmingly in the hand's of the executive branch, our people, particularly the middle class, retain a strong sense of individual initiative and decency. We are still a vigorous people. We are not at all like the Romans of the LATE EMPIRE. Predictions that Americans would "open the gates" to an Alaric are a bit too premature.

Tip O'Neal was right when he said:"all politics is local". The federal reflects the local. This means that we need, however, to get to work in our communities, where ultimately, the American way will be won or lost. It is at home where our strength exists, and our renewal will begin, if our democratic experiment is to continue.