Thursday, September 11, 2003
(10:28 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
The Fall of the Roman Republic
This wonderful and illuminating article (complete with footnotes) outlines the shift from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, suggesting how the militarism of our own nation might lead to a similar collapse eventually. Here are a couple sneak previews:
After Augustus, not much recommends the Roman Empire as an example of enlightened government despite the enthusiasm for it of such neoconservative promoters of the George W. Bush administration as the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer, the Wall Street Journal's Max Boot, and the Weekly Standard's William Kristol.
[...]
Given the course of the postwar situations in Afghanistan and Iraq, it may not be too hard to defeat George Bush in the election of 2004. But whoever replaces him will have to deal with the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex, our empire of bases, and a fifty-year-old tradition of not telling the public what our military establishment costs and the devastation it can inflict. History teaches us that the capacity for things to get worse is limitless. Roman history suggests that the short, happy life of the American republic is in serious trouble -- and that conversion to a military empire is, to say the least, not the best answer.
The actual history stuff is really interesting, too. Overall, I give it four stars.
