The Fall of Rome as it relates to the current state of affairs in the United states.


Emperors held absolute authority. This worked well with good emperors, but incompetent ones could do great harm. The rules for succession to the throne were never clear, and debilitating civil wars often resulted. The bureaucracy that managed the empire on a daily basis grew more corrupt, increasing the dissatisfaction of the common citizen. The wealth of the empire gradually concentrated in the hands of a minority while a large slave population did most of the work. The borders of the empire were immense and put a strain on military resources (500,000 soldiers defended a frontier that required 3 million or more to be secured). Roman conquests had ceased in the second century A.D., bringing an end to massive inflows of plunder and slaves. Taxes increased and production fell as the work force declined. A plague may have killed 20 percent of the empire's population in the third and fourth centuries, further reducing trade and production.

Good Lord, does no one moderate these comments for relevance?

I have to admit though that the argument that the Roman Empire fell because they did not have Universal Health Care to be interesting.

Actually, both the Roman and Greek Empires crumbled from within because of the dole system (welfare). As a nation prospers, the people get complacent and expect more from their government, leading to entitlements. Eventually, everyone figures "Why work when I can loaf and get it for free", resulting in steadily decreasing productivity. This, in turn, results in nothing for the government to give (or not enough to go around), resulting in national poverty, which leads to either revolution, or takeover from the outside.