America and Rome- the Superpower compared to the Empire
When I first read the title to Gerard Baker’s “A quick history lesson: America is no Rome,” I harrumphed, thinking that America most certainly is like Rome. “Bread and circuses equates to Welfare/Social Security and CSPAN,” I immediately thought. But Baker was driving at a different angle.
The best passage in the entire text, concerning American forces fighting in Iraq, follows:
“Because in the end what they are doing is deeply honourable – fighting to destroy an enemy that delights in killing women and children; rebuilding a nation ruined by rapine and savagery; trying to bridge sectarian divides that have caused more misery in the world than the US could manage if it lasted a thousand years.”
And he concludes that the only workable analogy between the US and Rome is that, when “Rome fell, the world went dark for the best part of a millennium. America may not be an empire. But whatever it is, for the sake of humanity, pray it lasts at least as long as Rome.”
And that is true. America does more good in the world than probably any single person could ever realize. So I pray America lasts longer than Rome did.
But as Lincoln once noted, “if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author.” If we do fall, our destruction will come from within; from the liberal agenda to destroy our moral center and to obtain “peace at any price.”
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