Rapid success may often breed failure. Historians have marveled at the relatively short period of time from the second Punic war onward that it took for the Roman city state to conquer the known world. Or at least all that was worth conquering at the time in Europe and along the Mediterranean. There are several basic explanations for this incredible success.
Prior to the conquest of Carthage in the Punic Wars, Rome steadily expanded across the Italian peninsula. As Rome conquered other city states in Italy, they provided various levels of citizenship to those in the conquered territories. Conditions of new allegiances from conquered city states varied, but one common denominator was that each city state must send their young men to fight in the Roman legions when called uponThe Roman republic was built upon the farmer citizen soldier. This system expanded as Rome expanded its influence across Italy. After the first Punic war, Sicily was captured from Carthage and Rome installed a governor, and of course, collected taxes. This was the first step in deviating from its prior policy of granting various levels of citizenship to the conquered. In the second Punic war, although Hannibal ravaged the Roman countryside, Rome outlasted the great general because of an inexhaustible source of manpower, and because they simply never entertained the notion of surrender.
Finally, Publius Conelious Scipio proved too great a match for Hanibal, and Rome won the second Punic war. Rome destroyed Carthage in the third Punic War, enslaved its citizens, and captured North Africa. Before long, Rome Conquered Greece, Macedonia, and the rest of the Mediterranean, culminating in the assassination of Julius Caesar and the end of the Republic.
As Rome expanded outside of Italy it began assigning governors to new provinces and a system of taxation and slavery commenced replacing the old system of expanding citizenship. Some small farmers sold their farms and joined the legions to chase glory and riches. Veterans returned from war without riches, and if they did not sell their farms, many were forced to for economic reasons. In Italy the farmer citizen soldier system was replaced with large slave plantations and Roman virtue was replaced with Roman decadence. Starting with Octavian/Augustus, the Roman republic became the Roman empire.
Yes, this is a simplified description of what occurred, yet it is still generically fairly accurate. The success of Roman conquest planted the seeds that first doomed the republic, and then doomed the empire itself.
The United States is the new Roman republic. The American republic was modeled after ancient Rome. After the Dark and Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance began a new period of growth and expansion. The Italian Renaissance led to a broader European Renaissance, and the ensuing Enlightenment. The Italian Renaissance also influenced education in Europe for centuries. Thus, the founders were steeped in classic literature studying Polybius and other classic writers.
There are many similarities between the American republic and the Roman republic. Like Rome, the citizen farmer soldier won the American Revolution. The self reliant rugged individualist is the American equivalent to Roman virtue. George Washington was hailed as an American Cincinnatus, serving to save the country, then returning to life as a farmer. That the reference was even used demonstrates the cultural inheritance from ancient Rome.
The rapid success of the United States has also planted the seeds of its collapse. The United States expanded rapidly in the 1800s and like Rome expanded citizenship across the continent, mostly through European migration. As Rome expanded outside of Italy, the United States in the 1900s began a more aggressive policy of military intervention and was on the winning side of two world wars.
This great success enhanced wealth, although rather than importing slaves as Rome did, cheap labor was imported, as were cheap imports. The manufacturing base that created an economic engine that helped win WWII was gutted in the late 1900s and replaced with government employment. The peace dividend and Pax Americana that was to come about from the end of the Cold War, was squandered quickly.
The international military expansion and the warfare state helped create a domestic welfare state. The two just seem to go hand in hand. A surveillance state was created in the post 911 world. The level of corruption has become so bad it has made so called banana republics look integrous. The leading candidate for president gets indicted routinely now in an obvious effort to stop his political campaign. The international entanglements have inverted and eroded national security. An international deep state has arisen, and equal to American military projection around the globe, there has been a reciprocal loss of sovereignty. In short, the American republic has flatlined.
Rome fell and there was a thousand years of darkness. Well, depends on whether one liked being part of the Roman empire or not. Although, civilization certainly reverted and dwindled from its heights during Pax Romana to a much less technologically, and culturally advanced state of affairs. If the American republic fails, civilization will collapse globally. Instead of a thousand years of darkness, we will face a thousand years or more of global tyranny.
Failure sometimes breeds success. After a thousand years of darkness the Italian Renaissance reinvigorated Western civilization. There was a rebirth. There was a revisiting and rediscovery of classic Roman civilization. Across Italy small republics sprang forth, and for a few hundred years Italy was experiencing a period similar to the ancient Greek golden age with vibrant city states thriving. There was a period of prosperity economically, intellectually, and culturally, as well as a period of invention. We saw geniuses the likes of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. The Italian Renaissance was also a period of great violence and even cynicism as evidenced by Machiavelli’s The Prince.
Rather than allow civilization to collapse and wait a thousand years, or worse, allow the human race to go extinct, it is time to start a National American Renaissance Movement. A rebirth of Western Civilization and a return to the basic principles of limited government and Natural Rights. A vigorous defense of individual rights and a reinvigoration of the cultural heritage that respects the rights of the individual, freedom of conscience, and basic human dignity.
The turmoil ahead may be unavoidable. So be it. It is time to push back against the globalists that seek to undermine the basic right to self government. Our sacred right to remain human is even under assault. It is time to mobilize. It is time to rescue the republic.
The alternative is to allow civilization to collapse, and humanity to potentially go extinct...
Dr. Joseph Sansone