Is the US following Rome

a reply to: JinMI

I don't know about equating us to the Empire in importance, the rest of the world might not notice (or care) if we faceplant (we seriously have lost a hell of a lot of clout abroad) But the collapse process is virtually universal & we are hitting every bullet point right on target, Rome was just the one eeeeveryone took stock of immediately (and forever, it seems)


The US might go down as the next chapter in how to NOT debauch & spend your way into nothingness.

The truth is that no empire lasts forever. The United States, like all empires, must eventually fall. State political systems are - like sock drawers and tool sheds - subject to the law of entropy.

When will that happen? It certainly seems that it could be sooner rather than later; but it must come down at some point.

originally posted by: Halfswede

originally posted by: putnam6
Might be way too early in the A.M here but I posit that the speed of information we now have greatly reduced most of Rome's symptoms does it not? or certainly it alters its importance either up or down.

For example, the masses, now 2021 the masses are hyper-aware, hyper-alert, whereas the Romans were or seemed to be the exact opposite.

In other words, the US is more aware of its decline than the Romans ever were of their demise. For example, a leader may have led ancient Rome for 10 or more years, but in today's America, he comes in hot and burns quickly out for various reasons.

I would argue that the masses are actually complacent and unaware. The few are in fact, able to use the speed of information to be hyper-aware and alert, but the masses are dumbed-down by the gobs of useless entertainment-driven information filling their idle time. That has only accelerated decline.

Indeed. The "information highway" is here, it's full of whatever you want to learn about, from all possible angles to consider desired.

But it's like putting a plain, shiny square metal block in the book department -- stupid people are picking the useless shiny thing instead of the info they set out for. Is is a concerted effort? Probably, websites don't make money if you're not stupid as it is. But us dumb ass bipedal apes don't get off scot-free, we are still are saddled with the responsibility of fallout from bad choices/actions.

Indeed yes, we are, but I feel a more salient question is this:

Is it possible, with the human condition, and the nature of our species, for a "steady state" governmental/social system to persist over lengthy stretches of time, even if it's performing much better and much more efficiently than comparable systems, without eventually collapsing, and most often collapsing from the inside out.

What was the length and breadth of the Roman empire, like a millenium?

I really don't see "Pax Americana" lasting even half of that, which is depressing and uncomfortable to concede, but just take a look around right now and project out the trajectory of our country, 10, 20, 50 years from now. It's not an ascending path in my view.

ETA: so I neglected to answer my own question about the possibility of a sustained empire on this planet.

Magic 8-ball says....."Outlook not so good"

Jared Diamond wrote a book called, "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed". If this subject is of interest to you this book is required reading. Its a bit dry, but the observations and points he makes are spot-on.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened


I make no predictions beyond 80 years for exactly these reasons.

It's possible that I am overly optimistic though.

Have a strong belief that Americans can do just about anything they set their minds to, if only modern democrats would get out of the way so we can get back to being Americans again.

Thank you Sleeper!

a reply to: Vroomfondel


Thank you Vroom!

I'll try to pick up a used one on Amazon.