History repeats itself

Traveling back to yesteryears, Edith Hamilton in 1932, praised the ancient Roman bequest of 1. peace under law, 2. civil order based on individual rights, and 3. freedom of universal tolerance. She claims that this is our modern Western world’s great inheritance. Another historian puts the legacy of Rome as: 1. A reasonable life ruled by law and order, 2. Organized grouping of towns and cities into self-administered states, and 3. Belief individual human dignity and equality under secure government. Really? Seems to me the empire of Rome possessed some deep, hypocritical flaws.

The presence of overseers called legionnaires, small in number but mighty with a whip or sword were ubiquitous. Seems to me Rome rotted from the inside because according to Juvenal, “soft wealth has corrupted the age with foul ease.” Even though Gibbon claimed that the human race was most “happy and prosperous” from A.D.96 to A.D.180, that period in Roman history only represents 84 years. Check out the preceding and subsequent insanities and cruelties.

Is what’s happening today the demise of another great civilization? It’s an OMG time for sure when a hockey commentator opines: “They have an identity in how we play.” It’s an WTF time for sure when ads on the radio ask if you are “desperate for an honest conversation about brakes. ” A deal is so unbelievable that it’s a “price minus price,” “mega complete.” Yet, this same commercial concludes with a disclaimer that it refers to “one redemption per axle.” What examples of the height of American civilization.

As in ancient Rome, all is not what it seems. How long can this go on? No one dies anymore; children are “declared deceased or they “pass.” Reality is a facade of softness borne out of easy living but of life over-regulated and monitored by government’s soldier-like watchdogs.

Slavery flourished in ancient Rome and even though it was eventually greatly diminished, it was never completely abolished. The caste system just morphed into the medieval world of serfs and nobility. In 2012 President Obama simply perpetuates the class warfare with the propaganda of 99% and 1% ( his followers and supporters, of course, from the 1% he demonizes). Reality is portrayed with the term greed which actually is an ignorant corruption of self-interest and survival. Even on the radio today Glenn Beck’s rant on greed sadly confirms his inability to assess reality.

So which is it? OMG what next or WTF we’re about to be drowned under a new Vesuvius? Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Europe, America (upcoming China) - a continuum of rise and fall?