Here is Tom Hoffman writing in a short post over at American Thinker:
Today there is a palpable sentiment among the American people that we have reached a turning point both as a nation and as a culture. The fact is that having elected Barack Obama and installed his transformative agenda we have already passed the point of no return.
Historical comparisons to the decline of Rome and the decline of Western civilization are numerous, with the most striking and detailed being Oswald Spengler’s Decline of the West. The parallels are straightforward. Both Rome and the U.S. are republics that were founded upon the notion of civilian control of the legislative, executive, and judicial apparatus. Both were designed specifically to avoid monarchy and dictatorship of one individual and to ensure a responsibility of the elected to the people.
When Caesar defied the Roman senate and crossed the Rubicon in 49 B.C., the Roman Republic became mere history, although practically it had long ago lost all legitimacy in the face of money and power politics. Caesar was the first of a succession of emperors who ruled autocratically through the manipulation of the city masses. The noble ideal of a citizen-based democracy with a balance of powers and an adherence to the ideal of civic virtue was the first of its kind if it is understood as the fruit of the Greek polis system. It functioned as designed, and Rome prospered for three centuries.
Read more: American Thinker
Image credit: The Roman ruins of Hadrian’s Villa, photo by John Biver.
