When did the Romans figure out that they were in trouble? Was it when their armies stopped pushing the frontiers of the Roman Empire further and further out? Was it when the barbarians sacked Rome? Was it when the Republic was undermined and replaced with Emperors? Was it when the Holy Roman Emperor was forced to move his capital to Constantinople?

The truth is that the Romans never really figured out that they were in trouble, even to the last, and so were powerless to stop their slide. If they had put the pieces together before the Seven Hills were burning they could have done something about it. Who could have stood against the might of the Romans, had they decided to act?

But instead of seeing the collapse of their civilization and their way of life coming, they chose willfully to ignore it. Decline over hundreds of years is difficult to measure and, it’s even more difficult to incite a popular response to something that seems impossible. The Romans didn’t do themselves any favors though - to speak of weakness and decay was criminal in ancient Rome. The truth of the matter was that the Romans had forgotten what it was to be Roman (foreign conquest and administration, excellence in sciences) and became focused on what it took to wrestle power and advantage for themselves within the confines of what had already been built over the proceeding centuries.

Even given obvious signs of collapse as early as 200AD, it’s fascinating that it took another 200 years for the collapse to be fully realized. The momentum that Roman culture was able to generate was mind blowing.

Wikipedia for more info

Elections are times of reflection for me whether the candidates that I prefer are elected or defeated. I consider the state of our nation as a whole and the tone of the debate and I ask myself, “Are we the Roman Empire yet? Are we a nation that is cruising on inertia, whose motor has stopped running?” This election has solidified in my mind that yes, we are.

Political debate during the election cycle this year could have dealt with substantive issues for our nation, but they didn’t. We could have had a real dialogue about the consequences of and response to illegal immigration - of large parts of our society purposely and willfully existing in violation to the law. We could have had a debate on how we are going to power our growth as a nation without being tied to foreign despots. We could have had a debate on how better to kill terrorists. We could have had a debate on how to be better Americans, spreading peace, freedom, truth and light to the darkest corners of the world. But we didn’t.

This election instead was a referrendum on personality, it seems. Our politicians are satisfied with turning their attention inward, to making politics about personality rather than prinicipal and we the polity are foolishly encouraging and allowing this. We have lost the perspective to independently see things in their appropriate context and instead accept information and issues as portrayed by activists. With activists controlling the tone and tenor of a debate - activits who don’t seek truth or wisdom but only seek victory despite the cost - we all suffer.

With our nation turned in on itself, fighting battles for power instead of principle, I don’t expect that we will remain #1 in the world for long, though that has a lot to do with who will stand up to displace us. Sadly, this is likely a fatal slide we’ve abandoned ourselves to - I can’t think of a single nation in the history of this earth that has been able to reassert itself once its motor of purpose and principle has shut off. Just like size and success leads to stagnation in corporations and familial dynasties, nations seem unable to achieve beyond a certain point and period in time.

But we’re still #1 for now. Hurrah.