Why did the Roman Empire die and will the US go the same way in time?

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   lizzieBooposted 13 years ago

   The Romans were amazing. They gave us roads, baths, hygiene,  modern language, time, calenders.....oh please remind me what else in this enormous list...and then they basically died out. Does a nation reach a point when it can't get bigger or better, so it starts to disperse? Will the same thing happen to the US at some point? Your jolly thoughts on the subject awaited.

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      prettydarkhorseposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      maybe capitalism is beginning to decline
      
      China is replacing US as economic imperialist, some sort of capitalism but with restraint

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         lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Now China I do worry about. No single nation should be that big. There is too much scope for disaster. The last time they were under a bad ruler, 70 million people died unnecessarily. Terrifying!

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         CHRIS57posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I am not sure that capitalism has something to do with it. There are at least 2 types of capitalism that are doing well.
         1. patronat capitalism (China, Russia)
         2. stakeholder capitalism (Scandinavia, Germany)
         
         the third type: shareholder capitalism (US, UK) is not doing very well. So spell: shareholder capitalism and i am with you.

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   Cagsilposted 13 years ago

   The U.S. is not going to die.

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      lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad to hear it. I'm sure I could just ask Wiki but this is more interesting. I wish I knew how to do those smiley faces. I'm such a techno-phobe.

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         Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         When you click on reply, look at the bottom of the white box in front of you...see "Formatting". Click on that and it will show you. Also, the little "camera", when you click on it, it will give you multiple options for loading/uploading/sharing pictures.

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            lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for that. I'll try.

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               lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               oh yay!!

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               Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               You're welcome.

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   Corruption so great that only revolution can purify. The Romans became totally corrupt. The US is thus far only totally corrupt the national level.

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      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Really? Try it's only politically corrupt.

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         lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I wouldn't put American politics under the 'corrupt' heading. There is corruption but it has a long way to go before being corrupt. What reminded me of Rome is the success of America: brilliance always has its parasites. The prolific capacity of American industry, and all the advantages that provides for the world,  has the downside of enabling  copius Americans to get enormously fat and lazy. Hollywood brings us joyful entertainment but exists along side sexual decadence and all manner of addictions. Freedom to bear arms allows people to protect themselves in the wild country but makes the streets of the cities potential war-zones.

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   TMMasonposted 13 years ago

   They embraced decadence and immorality to the point where it was all they lived for... and nothing else mattered after a while. So while they were occupied, many an enemy schemed their demise and took advantage of the spoiled children, the Romans had become.
   
   Sound familiar.
   
   Decadence and immorallity have destroyed many a nation... America will not be the last.

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      Cagsilposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      

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   Emile Rposted 13 years ago

   Interesting question. Britain, at one time, controlled what? About 3/4 of the world? One of the greatest empires there ever was. Britain still exists. Why would you assume America would cease?
   
   We aren't really an empire. But thanks for the vote of confidence.

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      lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      That's a very good point. Britain is no longer the great empire it was. Bit by bit it gave back the colonies (or had them taken back in the case of USA) and as a nation it is diminishing too. The Scots want out.

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         Emile Rposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Yes. Last I heard the Irish weren't so keen on staying either.
         
         But hey. You guys had a great run while it lasted, and you are still a respected world power. Maybe  history will prove us to be just as resilient.

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            lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            I think because the great power of the US is within its own parameters, ie, the wealth of it's own soil and resources is on its own land, (unlike in the British or Roman empires many of whose most powerful resources came from abroad), there is no reason why it cannot carry on and on.

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   mikelongposted 13 years ago

   The United States and the Romans cannot be compared in such a way...
   
   To talk about the Roman Empire in terms of "death" also, in my mind, is misguided...

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      lizzieBooposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You're right. I should be talking about the Fall, rather than the death of Rome. But why no comparison?

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      Paul Wingertposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Rome didn't die. It remained for centuries as the Holy Roman Empire up to the 19th century and was a center of political and religious power.  Rome and Great Britian (not so great anymore) was governed by an emporer/ king. Rome fell apart internally due to a number of factors - the empire was divided and both ruled by incompetent emporers, change in religion and economic factors where the barbarians and huns took advantage of. Britian faced economics issues during and after WW1. Losing colonies due to revolution and so on.  Of course WW2 didn't help things either.

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   psycheskinnerposted 13 years ago

   With the Romans, sweetening their wine with lead sure didn't help.

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   melporposted 13 years ago

   Corruption among the leaders was the main reason the Rome Empire died. The other reasons were that the empire got too large to handle and the power of the empire was spread  too thin to manage effectively. Such a scenario will not happen to the U.S.  because the country has a check and balance system built into it's governing system and secondly, the country is not going around conquering other countries to gain power. During the time of the Roman Empire expansionism was the predominant way of thinking manifested by the leadership. Political leaders today general do not think that way because the boundaries of each country is pretty much locked in stone now.

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   knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

   So why does the US have military bases in at least 150 foreign countries?

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      melporposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      We are not conquering the world just because we have military bases all over the world. The bases are everywhere to make it possible for quick military intervention when it is needed if there is a serious threat somewhere in the world.

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    saffimposted 13 years ago

    It's the law of nature that nations rise and fall. The U.S is no exception. It will surely decline in power and importance at some point.We are already seeing China coming strong. I think it will be the next most powerful and influential nation in the world. However, the U.S will remain relevant for a very long time.

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    peterxdunnposted 13 years ago

    The American bases are there to protect the US dollars status as first reserve currency. Get real.

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    knolyourselfposted 13 years ago

    Is that an empire dollar?

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       peterxdunnposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       The petro-dollar is a tax. Countries must have them to buy oil. So America can print as many as they like and it doesn't impact their value on the foreign exchanges. This means America can buy stuff from other countries: raw materials etc, at a price dictated by the Federal Reserve. Don't make the mistake of thinking that this benefits ordinary Americans; they have to stump up the taxes that pay for the military deployments to enforce this system. All the benefits go to the banks; and they call this the free market.
       
       The dollar is now in free-fall against the euro because of the massive budget and balance of payments deficits run-up by successive administrations. If yoyu have any money in the bank - get rid of it - buy commodities: gold, silver etc. Even the banks are ditching paper money.

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    Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

    All civilizations have their place and time, none last forever.

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