Originally posted by Major Biggles
personally i think after the second world war, america turned into everything the revolutionaries had fought against. shame really, because in the early days america was one of the most just and free places in the world, now it's almost exactly the opposite.
i hope that changes sometime.
Not at all!
Slavery, lack of universal suffrage, the ongoing Indian wars......
We have made progress in many areas, and I wouldn't say that the early days were necessarily the best. It may have been "one of the most" comparatively in its day, but lets not kid ourselves.
Good post tedrbr, but a better interpretation is that the Roman Empire faded away, not fell. In many ways it actually continued. The eastern empire lasted as a political force for many centuries past the era of Rome's predominance. Much of the political and administrative structures of the western empire survived and even flourished in the form of the christian church.
If anything the western empire slowly turned to regionalism and even localism, leading to the feudal structures of social and political organization that brought Europe through medieval times. With the logistical base of the empire gone and public attitudes shifting, the power base of the empire shifted to local land lords. Corporate interests may be paralleled here, but that is also very problematic.
If anything right now the US is shifting to a more collectivist stance. Your comparison is apt and enlightening, and you make many good points about the state of our Union today, but don't follow a parallel too far or it may lead you off the page of the history book.
