Well, it just isn't! Though Western civilization is indelibly marked by Roman civilization, and the Founding Fathers and the following generations have been influenced by their notions of what Rome was in shaping this country, comparing the Roman Empire to modern America (with the implication that the American Empire is about to fall right now!) is just silly.
Humans continue to grapple with the same sorts of problems today that they did two thousand years ago. It's therefore easy to see parallels between today's America and the Roman Republic/Empire; the same applies, however, to virtually any culture in human history.
We should certainly study how our predecessors dealt with similar problems and shared similar challenges (we should pay particular attention how well their solutions did, or did not, work), but we must always keep in mind that such study is, at best, study of analogy, not Fate. For all the similarities between us and a past culture such as Rome, there are just as many differences. History can be a guide and a counsellor, but, in the end, we have to realize that we live in our own moment, different from that of any before, and, in the end, we have to decide, to the best of our abilities, how to act and what choices to make.
(Via rogueclassicism)
3 comments:
There is one similiarity, though: ike the Western Roman Empire, far-right Christianity may help spell the end of the American Empire.
While hardly an enthusiastic supporter of orthodox Christianity, I think it unfair to attribute the fall of the Western Empire to Christianity (though Edward Gibbon certainly seemed to try). Personally, I don't think it helped (too much time and energy going into fighting each other over heresies, in particular), but there were many, many other factors.
I am generally dubious of all historical parallels. Each time period has its own specifics
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