Thursday, September 16, 2021

America in Decline: Late Republic or Late Empire?

The Roman Republic is generally agreed to have begun in the year 509 B.C. In that year, the Latin-speaking citizens of Rome overthrew their last king, an Etruscan by the name of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus.

In saving the Senate, Augustus weakened it and created the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire was cheered by the majority of Romans, most of whom had no clue that the Republic was dead. The Roman Empire brought peace for centuries.

The Eastern Roman Empire continues to be a force in world politics.

In the West, the Roman Empire lasted from 27 BC until 476 AD. In was here, in the lands stretching from Italy to Iberia and Great Britain, that the Roman Empire collapsed and scattered.

While Edward Gibbon's magisterial Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire places much of the blame on Christianity and its upending of the Roman religion, more contemporary scholars understand that Christianity reinvigorated Rome, especially in the East.

If we are in our Late Republic phase, then like the Roman Republic we may be able to solve our problems by discarding a rotten political structure and submitting to authoritarian rule based in Caesarism.

https://www.revolver.news/2021/09/america-in-decline-late-republic-or-late-empire/ 

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