Rome!

Teaching about the fall of the Roman Republic yesterday we discussed parallels between Rome and the United States. We decided that the Republic fell because of corruption, the importation of slaves, the accumulation of land and wealth, and the militarization of society.

The class then broke up into small groups and discusses problems facing the U.S. We all agreed there is a huge corruption issue. One student mentioned the recent Denny Hastert scandal. Another talked about police brutality, which I argued falls under corruption. There is over course the matter of our crushing national debt. Most interestingly we discussed illegal immigration which has at least some parallels to the Roman slavery problem.

I asked the class if they thought the United States was going to go the way of Rome. They wanted to know what I thought. I said predictions are worthless and despite all the problems we face the country always seems to survive. But I admit, I'm feeling pessimistic.