acknowledgeurma

Interesting article compares current state of the USA to Rome, not to its fall, but to its t***sformation from the Roman Republic to Imperial Rome.

https://www.t***hdig.com/articles/the-end-of-the-american-republic/

vernon

The progressives thought they had it when they had hillery nominated. But trump is slowly turning things around.

truthiness

Interesting that neither external wars nor a civil war saved the Roman republic.

acknowledgeurma

I think the "progressives" were mostly wanting Bernie Sanders and only grudgingly supported Clinton (after all, she was a Goldwater girl).

acknowledgeurma

From what I've read the Roman republic was hardly worth saving, not that Imperial Rome was any better. In both, the supreme god was power.

truthiness

..

No different from today.

What have you read?

What is your criterion for "hardly worth saving?"

acknowledgeurma

Instead of "read", I should have said "gathered". I am a very slow reader (after reading a few sentences, I'll slip into a reverie of associations). This makes reading long works problematic. I compensate by reading book reviews (New York Review of Books is great but I let my subscription lapse (I blame the internet)), encyclopedia entries (yay for Wikipedia), or magazine articles (e.g.,National Geographic, Scientific American, etc.). I also gather information from YouTube lectures, Ted Talks, ...

As to "hardly worth saving":

I guess it wasn't so much the form of government (republican or imperial) that I consider hardly worth saving, but the values that Roman culture seems to have celebrated and glorified. An indication can be found in:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/276214.A_History_of_Private_Life
(Paul's review of Feb 11, 2013 gives a helpful suggestion of what sections might deserve more attention)

I think the Romans, over every other thing, glorified the ability to subjugate others to one's will - victory. They glorified "so much winning".