the next fall of Rome

As i was commenting on one of these articles, i realized another needs to be written about our parasitic legal system and parallels between ancient Rome and America.

As i mentioned in the comment, i've been writing about this concept on and off for about 30 years now .. Many years ago, people have tried to understand why the 'great Roman empire' fell. Was it primarily disease, lead pipes used in water system causing poisoning, hedonism, or something else? My late father subscribed to the theory: hedonism brought Rome down - the overbearing focus on pleasure.. But this is overly simplistic - both for the cause of demise and over simplification of my father's ideas concerning it.

A popular athlete remarked that "This will be the downfall of America - the legalization of gay marriage." But it's wrong to associate hedonism with gay marriage (not that the athlete was doing that, but in this context, i have to make explicit: hedonism has nothing to do with gay marriage). Hedonism is pleasure seeking, plain and simple. Gay marriage is a legal union between two consenting adults, regardless of sex. So all we've done in New York is broaden our concept of marriage.. We've NOT endorsed hedonism..

Hedonism, as a single factor, was not the downfall of Rome. It's true, Rome was a 'multicultural empire' (as Pat Condell likes to talk about it), respecting all religions, but Rome never forgot the mother of their civilization: the city of Rome and its place in their society. Hedonism never gained full rule over Roman society; the city of Rome was always there to remind them who was really Boss.

Lead pipes causing lead poisoning? Do you think Romans were that stupid? Of course, they used it within the city of Rome, but as we know, any water transit system not properly cleaned with anti-bacterials will soon get infiltrated by bacteria. i'm guessing soon after construction, those lead pipes were coated on the inside with bacteria. That coating would have a tendency to reduce water leaching lead from the inside walls into the water itself. In a sense, bacterial films on the inside of the pipes would have protected Roman elite from lead poisoning. This likely was common knowledge among the elite so they had their slaves boil the water - whenever water was required for human consumption. Bathing and other activities did not required boiling so i believe the 'problem' of lead poisoning in ancient Rome was not really a problem. Acute lead poisoning has dramatic and obvious effects so that is immediately ruled out. PPM, parts per million, lead poisoning has known statistical impact on community health which would be observable to a highly educated Roman elite. Again, they were not that stupid. Roman elite was highly educated. Rome did not fall by lead poisoning.

.. There's a fairly strong argument Christianity brought down Rome. By the time Christianity was in full swing, around 500AD, Rome was declining measurably. The once great civilization could no longer keep 'barbarian hordes' at bay. Local kingships were springing up all over the place claiming autonomy from Rome - and Rome could do nothing about it.. Rome turned a blind eye to these events and eventually, to their own demise. It's an over-simplistic argument, but has some validity. Christianity was poised from Christ's time - to bring down Rome. It was the Romans who crucified Jesus at the Jew's request - making Rome the 'anti-Christ' and setting the stage for John's Apocalypse to come true (about Rome). Finally, Genghis Khan came much later wanting to sack Rome (the city) but they paid him off: "Go away quietly and we'll give you what you want, gold." So they did and he did.. The city of Rome was spared John's Apocalypse. But was it?

If there's any one thing that could bring America down - it's our parasitic and crippling legal system. For one thing, if you look very carefully at our government structure, everything was taken from Rome by our founding fathers. The executive branch is equivalent to the emperor but constrained by both senate and judicial branch. The senate is something directly taken from Rome. Same for the judicial branch. The only 'novel' aspect was the triangular system of checks and balances (for power). In a sense, we recreated the Roman republic before it became an empire. In America, we have an almost identical government and legal system. Sure, our laws are more 'fair' and we don't have slavery.. But the mechanics and structure are amazingly similar. Well, not so amazing if we admit our founding fathers had ancient Rome in mind..

If we consider that slavery was legal at the time of our independence from Britain, our government and legal system was pretty much an exact copy of pre-imperial Rome. Adding the house of representatives to the legislative branch was not so much a brilliant addition but i believe, more appeasement of the 'common folk' than anything else.. If we look at the effectiveness and clout of the House (in Washington), they're a bunch of powerless, squabbling, ineffective group of people intent on only one thing: increasing their personal wealth. As my father always said, (those in Washington) are there for only one reason: greed. They don't represent anybody but themselves. Our 'representative democracy' is a parody of true Athenian style democracy. Our 'democracy' is really an autocracy: a form of government where one person, or group of people, have unlimited power. With the president asserting more and more power (as in military invasions etc), the other branches scramble for the remaining shreds. It becomes one big 'power orgy' where individuals and factions vie for dictatorial control over resources. And attempting to pacify specific lobby groups only brings the whole system down.

My father believed lobby groups should be made illegal within Washington DC, all drugs should be legalized (not that this relates much except we'd have more taxable income for government), and that our representative system should be modified to truly reflect constituent desires/needs. If we truly want to be a representative democracy, we need to truly represent our constituents .. My father went to war for this country. But not the country of today - more like his dream for this country.. The truly respected checks and balances of our original system - not one branch gaining dominance over the others. And stop 'oiling the squeaky wheel'; stop catering to lobby groups and special interest groups. This will be part of the American downfall if we let it continue.

There's a phrase that eludes me at the moment. It's legal terminology for cases thrown out because they lack evidence or are superfluous. Wait a minute.. It'll come to me.. Or not. ;) There needs to be more of this kind of judicial decision making / activity. The case where the boy committed suicide and the State in question wanted to press charges against his 'friends' who posted, or attempted to post, his gay-ness on the internet? i hate to sound so heartless (and of course i feel compassion for his family and true friends) but .. who cares? Can we afford to press charges on groundless accusations? Did his false-friends truly cause his suicide? No, he killed himself. They may have contributed to his depression but .. There will always be these kinds of unfortunate stories in human civilization because human beings are frail, weak, tragic creatures.. We always blow things out of proportion and 'want to sue' over the stupidest / most trivial things. Dr. Phil had one of his producers attacking some actors who supposedly spoiled the Italian-American image the other day .. Talk about a slow day. My mother's Italian-American. She couldn't care less about 'defamation of Italian-American image'. She just wants a happy life, to be treated with respect, her family to be healthy, happy, and productive,.. But how can we be productive contributing members of a society so focused on pay-back (and exploitation)?

A long time ago, i moved to California. i met a lady who kept a pistol in her purse 'cuz that part of Oakland was 'dangerous', according to her.. i soon found out about a 'new' scam: putting some water on the floor at the grocery store then slip on it when an employee was nearby to witness. You could actually make a living off this kind of behavior. To hear about this kind of scam enraged me but i could do nothing about it.. My best job at the time was: cleaning debris and weeds from the front area of the apartment building.. i got paid hourly and it was dirty but fulfilling work: you could see immediately the fruits of your labor .. i recently had to fill out a questionnaire for att about honesty on-the-job. They wanted to know the smallest amount i would steal or allow to be stolen .. Not to sound denigrating to the youth of today but i suppose they might do anything for a buck .. Not me. i don't care how needy i am, i'm not gonna steal from anyone - not 50 cents, not 500 thousand dollars - not even if i could get away with it. It's against my principals ____s. That kind of questionnaire is Insulting.

But this is the kind of world we live in, the kind of society we've created. We care about pay-back, scamming when we can, suing when we feel slighted or insulted, the kind of car we drive, how sexy our girlfriend looks, how studly our man looks,.. We're so damn focused on pay-back, appearance, exploitation,.., that our society lacks integrity, as a whole. So it doesn't surprise me to have to fill out that kind of questionnaire, just Insulting. i filled it out because i need a decent job. But honestly, me filling out the questionnaire only supports this kind of behavior: mistrust, disrespect, and indirectly - dishonesty. When i fill out that kind of questionnaire i'm allowing authority's general mistrust to dominate the situation - when i'm nothing like that. i understand they 'don't know me from Adam' and they can afford to be very picky now that the general economic situation is so bad..

But we contribute to the situation when we fill out these damn questionnaires .. We contribute when we take a pen from work .. We contribute when we automatically mistrust .. We contribute by demanding respect without giving it first .. Our sue-happy and scam-happy nation is on the verge of collapse .. i know of people who get lobster tails from food-stamps because they really don't need the stamps. i know of people who sell their food stamps and HIV drugs because cash is better than 'nothing' .. i don't know them personally, but i know it's happening..

There are very specific things we can do to improve the situation:

1. don't steal from work - very simple and easy to think about

2. don't fill out an employment questionnaire about honesty/integrity

3. don't automatically mistrust new-hires

4. don't require respect unless you're willing to give it first

5. don't carry a gun in your purse - it shows you don't trust people

6. don't scam companies like spilling water on the floor then tripping on it

7. don't try to cut employee benefits because you're 'trying to save money'

8. stop paying attention to lobby groups

9. stop trying to satisfy special interest groups

10. legalize all drugs and collect taxes on them

11. stop military action against countries you have no business with

12. STOP SUING EACHOTHER FOR THE SMALLEST / MOST PETTY THINGS

Sure a kid died 'cuz he was gay and his friends teased him about it.. What else is new.. If they murdered him, then they should be prosecuted. If they forced a bunch of pills down his throat or pushed him off a bridge, then they should be held accountable .. But i've argued this previously, they have to live with the knowledge they contributed to his depression - for the rest of their lives.. Isn't that pay-back enough?

Stop selling your food stamps. Stop selling your HIV medications. Stop getting food stamps if you don't really need them .. Otherwise, it's 'down the toilet' for America just like ancient Rome.