| Fortunately (or perhaps
unfortunately,) we just don’t have what it takes
to become the latest empire. In the meantime, as we
pursue the right wing’s pipe dream, American hegemony,
the more benevolent albeit weaker younger brother of
empire, is spiraling to its destruction. The American
Empire is falling before it has even truly risen.
I blame it on the state of history education in this
country. We’ve all heard the cliché, “Those
who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat
it.” How much truer must this be for those who
don’t learn it at all? Or who ignore it altogether
because they believe that our nation’s uniqueness
protects us from the march of history?
Remember your own history classes? The rote memorization
of names and dates. The patriotic mythology that filled
the pages of your textbooks. The tremendous gaps in
the relation of events where the “unimportant”
people simply weren’t mentioned, where the history
of our nation seemed the sole creation of a group of
wealthy white men? Remember how you were taught that
America was completely unique in the annals of human
history and therefore, somehow, completely disconnected
and safe from the trends that ravaged the rest of the
world? It was all wrong.
History is very much about trends. You can change the
names and dates as much as you want, but the bigger
pictures won’t change very much. To truly understand
how events will unfold, you need only find the connections
to the common threads that continue unbroken through
time and space.
Follow the threads and you’ll see how the “American
Empire” is doomed to extinction even now, as it
makes its first tentative steps into the world. If our
ruling class had learned the lessons of the Roman Empire,
the one whose propaganda we so readily mimic for our
own purposes, they’d give up now and save our
nation and our world from this disastrous enterprise.
The Roman Empire. Pax Romana. What can we
learn from the inspiration for our attempt to bring
about peace and freedom through American rule? Just
this. We don’t have what it takes. The Romans
began from a position of unprecedented strength and
a unified people dedicated to society’s values.
For all the patriotic ramblings of our rulers, we don’t
have that anymore. The Roman Empire began its fall where
we attempt to begin a rise to power. So, why did they
fall? And why won’t we rise?
The decline of morals and values: The Roman
Empire lost its strength when Roman values gave way
to pleasure and treasure. Lavish parties, gladiatorial
contests, violence, and other forms of immorality chipped
away at the unifying values that kept the Roman Legion
and thus the empire strong. Our own pursuit of pleasure
and treasure is doing the same.
Lavish parties, reality TV, violence, and the abandonment
of democratic values are leading us to destruction.
For nearly two centuries, American individualism was
balanced by the communal commitment to the construction
of an ever more just nation through democratic processes.
We voted and protested our way to greater freedom for
all. Even those with no freedom to vote participated
through the power of their voices. For the last few
decades, however, the ruling elite has entertained and
bullshitted us into submission. We have abandoned political
discourse, building a taboo around “talking politics”
lest someone’s feelings get hurt or an actual
debate arises. Consequently, the American people now
know less about the important political topics of our
country than citizens of foreign nations and participating
through protest is viewed as “un-American.”
Public health: The rampant spread of disease
through Roman territories due to overcrowding and unsanitary
conditions decimated that empire’s population.
America is far more advanced in its knowledge of public
health concerns and our ability to control, to some
extent, the spread of disease. We have doctors that
don’t use leaches, medicines that usually aren’t
poisonous, and high tech hospitals that would have been
the stuff of science fiction just a few decades ago.
While the spread of communicable disease is not what
it was, a variety of factors have contributed to a decline
in the health of the average American: pollution; obesity;
limited or non-existent access to preventative medicine
due to cost-saving measures on the part of HMO’s
and insurance companies; lack of access to preventative
medicine due to lack of health insurance; the absence
of early stage treatments due to some of the same factors;
a serious dearth of public education about health realities
due to religious influence on governmental policies.
Despite spending more money on health care than any
other nation, our citizens are far less healthy than
those in other industrialized nations. Illness, according
to some studies, costs the United States billions of
dollars per year in lost wages and decreased productivity.
We need no study to imagine the human costs.
Political Corruption: Rome’s system
for choosing an emperor was rather democratic at first
with the outgoing emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian
guard, and the army coming together to choose the new
ruler. Over time, the Praetorian Guard took complete
control of the selection process and the highest bidder
became emperor.
Our forefathers so distrusted the “mob”
that they instituted the Electoral College to limit
the powers of the people. Under this system, no less
than three men have lost the vote but gained the presidency.
Lately, however, the Electoral College has become less
a threat to democracy than campaign finance. With election
campaigns become ever more expensive, those with the
most money have an ever-growing role in determining
the winners and losers of the political shell game.
Whoever spends the most money wins. With the exception
of billionaires like Ross Perot, candidates must raise
money from outside sources and thus become beholden
to special interests and corporate powers at the cost
of the common welfare. Access to the halls of power
has become far too expensive for even the somewhat wealthy
private citizens. Thus, a small group determines which
candidates we’ll have the chance to vote for in
any election and our emperor…ahem…president
is generally the highest bidder.
It’s the economy, stupid!: Unemployment,
inflation, and the trade deficit felled the great Romans.
Surely, we’re in no better position than they
were. President George W. Bush was the first ever American
president to show a net loss of jobs during his first
term in office. Those jobs that are being created are
generally low wage positions in the service industries.
Outsourcing of manufacturing has led to greater unemployment
and underemployment as well as a monstrous trade deficit
that places our economy at the mercy of foreign powers.
Outsourcing of jobs that require skilled labor and successful
competition from countries like India and China has
led to an economy where skilled and highly educated
workers make up an ever-greater percentage of the long-term
unemployed. The “strong” American economy
is a smoke and mirrors ploy. The “strong”
American dollar is but a memory.
Military spending: Maintaining military might
in the face of “recruitment” problems required
that Rome hire outside fighting forces and draw resources
from other necessary projects. Maintaining or building
our own has and will do the same. Half of our tax dollars
going to military expenditures limits our abilities
to adjust to new necessities or shore up old ones. Public
education, social programs like welfare and social security,
and infrastructure maintenance are already feeling the
bite. The military’s inability to recruit new
personnel and retain current troops, as well as growing
protests from reservists and recalled service members
will push us to rely more heavily on the fighting forces
of our allies.Unfortunately, few of our allies have
the desire or the sheer number of troops that would
be needed for an American empire to take shape. Only
reinstating the draft would get us the manpower we need
for empire, but that act would bring about the dangers
of civil unrest.
So, we just don’t have what it takes to be an
empire. As it is, American hegemony is quickly becoming
the victim of foreign progress and unpopular American
policies. Our allies are distancing themselves from
us politically and are far less ready to support our
every move. Developing nations are threatening the strength
of the American economy by the fair competition and
marketplace values we insisted they embrace. As they
progress, we’ll face ever-greater competition
for the resources we need to maintain economic strength.
Thus, we’ll lose much of the power and influence
our economy has provided. The sleeping tiger of our
military might is beginning to look a bit more like
an aggressive alley cat. Although we’re fortunate
enough to have no military enemies on our borders, foreign
military adventures will surely become less feasible
in the future. The desire for an American Empire will
only worsen the situation and ultimately, destroy what
is left of our unprecedented strength in the world.
We just don’t have what it takes. Let’s
hope the powers that be get the message before we, like
Rome, become the power that was.
Melinda
Barton is a regular contributor to Raw Story, and can
usually be read on Fridays. Hannah Selinger's column
will return next Tuesday.
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