Article

2017-07-03 Home Front: Politix

Kristol: US Repeating 'Decline and Fall of Rome' in Mere Months

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Fred 2017-07-03 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 There is nothing that the Roman Empire and the U.S. has in common. Britain and the Soviet Union were more like Empires. Nitwit.

Posted by Huporong Oppressor of the Weak3828 2017-07-03 02:07|| 2017-07-03 02:07|| Front Page Top

#2 ...Wasn't this the same guy who was going to 'save' us from Donald Trump by pushing forward some nonentity for President last year?

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2017-07-03 04:35|| 2017-07-03 04:35|| Front Page Top

#3 "in mere months". Uh, yeah, sure. I can't wait for the Gibbon-like book on the "decline and fall".

Now, the decline and fall of the main-stream media? Now we're talking!

Posted by Clurong Glinetle7483 2017-07-03 04:47|| 2017-07-03 04:47|| Front Page Top

#4 There is nothing that the Roman Empire and the U.S. has in common.
Are you sure about that? I've seen some pretty long faces in the Senate.

Posted by Classer 2017-07-03 05:23|| 2017-07-03 05:23|| Front Page Top

#5 We certainly have our own version of bread and circus's along with internal barbarians

Posted by Cheaderhead 2017-07-03 05:54|| 2017-07-03 05:54|| Front Page Top

#6 The 'end state' may be a bit different from that of Rome. Nearly everyone in the U.S. owns or has access to a Gladius.

Posted by Besoeker 2017-07-03 05:58|| 2017-07-03 05:58|| Front Page Top

#7 More like Athenian empire, if you ask me.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2017-07-03 05:59|| 2017-07-03 05:59|| Front Page Top

#8 No doubt Kristol blames everyone else...

Posted by Rob Crawford 2017-07-03 07:10|| 2017-07-03 07:10|| Front Page Top

#9 Centuries before the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was the Fall of the Roman Republic. I trace the fall to the success in its most major conflict, the Second Punic War. Much like our success in the Second World War, it presented the victor with dominance in a vast area of the civilized world for which the constitution of Rome was not designed to handle. Ruling, influencing, garrisoning these new regions, totally distorted the checks and balances that could be operated within a city state political system. There you'll find the decline you are looking for, but one you won't like given how you enjoyed for so long playing among the Oligarchy which had displaced the old American republic, I doubt you want to cast yourself as part of the problem, not the solution. When the people in Washington decided to engage the world in '48, it poisoned itself, destroyed the checks and balances, to centralize power and resources. Looking around, you haven't 'saved the world'. It's been decades in the making, not months.

Posted by Procopius2k 2017-07-03 07:15|| 2017-07-03 07:15|| Front Page Top

#10 Another example of Kristol going off in his quest for relevance. He has been wrong most of the time.

Posted by JohnQC 2017-07-03 09:54|| 2017-07-03 09:54|| Front Page Top

#11 I could care less about Kristol but it makes me
sad that P.J. O'Rourke cashed in decades of Libertarianism and sided with Hillary.

Did the NeverTrumps truly go off the rails because of Trump or did we just notice it now?

Posted by rjschwarz 2017-07-03 10:54|| 2017-07-03 10:54|| Front Page Top

#12 Kristol's only upset because his own empire is getting shut down.

Posted by charger 2017-07-03 11:55|| 2017-07-03 11:55|| Front Page Top

#13 During the first part of my recent illness and convalescence I found myself listening to the first half of the History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan. I'd like to take the opportunity to second what P2K said about the fall of the Republic. I'd also suggest listening to Duncan's account of the assasination of Caesar and its aftermath.

This keyboard is broken and annoying, so I'm going to stop typing now.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2017-07-03 13:36|| 2017-07-03 13:36|| Front Page Top

#14 Ok, on my phone for a sec... I'll elaborate. After they killed Caesar, the Liberators left Pompey's theater and deckred their action to the city. They had killed Caesar and saved the Republic. Then everyone went home, locked their doors, and waited for the civil war to start back up.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2017-07-03 18:39|| 2017-07-03 18:39|| Front Page Top

23:56 Richard Aubrey
23:10 Skidmark
23:09 Skidmark
22:53 746
21:23 Sock Puppet of Doom
20:45 3dc
20:14 Frank G
20:10 Seeking cure for ignorance
19:58 Frank G
19:38 chris
19:08 lord garth
18:39 Thing From Snowy Mountain
18:22 gorb
18:12 Rex Mundi
18:02 Bhoot
17:58 Caesar Cralet1315
17:51 lord garth
17:40 ed in texas
17:40 gorb
16:45 CrazyFool
16:24 Pappy
16:14 Bertie White1438
16:00 Iblis
15:56 swksvolFF