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You cited a rise in crime within the empire and then went on to cite the number of prostitutes. I’m sorry but prostitution was never illegal within the Roman empire. In fact archaeological evidence from Pompeii suggests that prostitutes were a part of everyday life. They were taxed and operated brothels openly on prominent streets throughout the city.
Thought Two.
Lead pipes were the least of Roman issues. Have you ever heard of lead acetate? Romans regularly drank copious amounts of wine boiled in lead pots. The lead would leach out and combine in a chemical process that produced a sugary tasting beverage. Additionally lead pipes were used within the Roman empire for many generations. After all the word for lead and plumbing is one and the same in Latin : plumbum.
Thought Three.
Some historians theorize that Rome fell due to the absorption of Roman technologies and society by outside cultures. Some state that this absorption had more to do with their fall than an overextension of their boundaries.
Final Thought.
As to urban decay. One has to be careful in make assertions as to urban decay within the later Roman empire. There is evidence that the average citizens of Rome lived in absolute squalor for hundreds of years. According to the Roman Poet Juvenal (who died in 131) conditions for the everyday citizen were deplorable. There is little evidence that this trend accelerated towards the end but that it was only a part of the daily workings of Rome. One must remember that Rome was an agrarian society. As such opportunities for bettering one’s condition outside joining the military were limited. As such food distribution to these poor and bathing facilities, essentially public subsidies of their time were a normal part of life. Without such the city of Rome with its nearly one million citizens would have collapsed long before. The very wealthy made up only a small percentage of Rome’s population but lived in homes that took up nearly a third of available land. As such the conditions for a majority of Romans must have been akin to European cities during the Elizabethan era. Dirty, crowded and smelly.
Some of that is wrong. The Roman ENpire went Christian well before it fell. The games in the Colsseum (sp) were banned, Pagan types were prosecuted, etc. Rome's strongest decline happened on the Christian watch.
But Rome was a decadent place long long before it fell.
That said there are alot of problems with America and no country lasts forever. But fundamentalists not respecting individual liberties and freedoms in the name of God is going to be part of the downfall of this country.
You could probly say the same for progressives, in the name of vanity or do-gooderasty or self-absorbtionism... whatever.
Look at the countries i the western world we will see most of western europe go teh way of greece long before the USA. There outlook for growth is the worse to 2040 of any major area of the world in economist studies on growth. Estimated at 1.5% and the US at 3.5% average. They hav alot fo p[roblems consuming so much of their GDP for government.
Look at the countries i the western world we will see most of western europe go teh way of greece long before the USA. There outlook for growth is the worse to 2040 of any major area of the world in economist studies on growth. Estimated at 1.5% and the US at 3.5% average. They hav alot fo p[roblems consuming so much of their GDP for government.
I'll agree, only that is of small consolense(-sp) that the US average growth is only 3.5%.
However I still see a large population moving to the cities/urban areas as farming and manufacturing is closing down for what ever reason (cough). Unfortunately the jobs in those urban areas are also drying up, for whatever reason (cough, cough).
As we become less and less self sufficient, and more and more dependent on other countries, we must have more money to buy such items/service because we have nothing of value to trade. But where is the money to come from if we have nothing to offer?
DEBT.
AND, we must secure our sources, right? We must ensure the other countries that provide us with our items/services are kept viable and must not fall or we will fall, hence we must engage in military action to protect them (our interests). It cannot last.
Unfortunately the US is an island, save Canada and Mexico, which means our supplies need to cross oceans to get to us. I seriously doubt there will be any 'Berlin Airlifts" to (the) US when the time comes and we will have no adjacent countries worth invading to replace our needs once we're kicked out of the rest of the world.
I use to say, not in my lifetime, now I am not so sure, particularly when I read about all those websites about stockpiling weapons for 'the day'. I don't agree with them, but they are growing exponentially to a point that they just can't be ignored any longer.
Too much spin. People need to leave their ideologies at home when they look at history. You must become a political atheist if you want to derive any meaningful information from history.
Not that I am in any way disparaging the point of the OP, but I just found this thread amusing. I can remember my mother preaching in panic that we were going the way of the Roman Empire when I was a little kid back in the mid-1960's.
I bet people in every generation in every civilization since the actual fall of the Roman Empire has made this statement.
Each generation re-discovers these concepts for themselves, and there's really nothing new under the sun.
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