| Copy Book Warriors, It was remarkable. The Roman Empire was knit together by a road network of 250,000 miles that not only ensured effective and swift communications, but unified the nation. That road system actually facilitated the spread of Christianity from 100 to 300 A.D. But the seeds of Rome’s fall were already planted by then. The abandonment of the Roman Republic (609-46 B.C.) for the dictatorships that began with Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. presaged the end of the Empire in 476 A.D. What sealed Rome’s fate? To be sure, the atrophy of republican principles. So too the abuses and depravity of its Caesars in the Empire period. But in reality it was the “injuries of time” that were decisive in the fall of Rome. It turns out that the most significant Roman road was the one that carried their civilization to ultimate collapse. In 1776—the same year that the Continental Congress approved the American Declaration of Independence—a continent away, Sir Edward Gibbon finished the first in a series of six volumes of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In it, the Englishman notes that the “injuries of time” was one of the principal causes of Rome’s fall. Just 62 years later Abraham Lincoln, as a young lawyer speaking to the Lyceum on “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions,” referred to the “silent artilleries of time” and the damage it had done to our national character in “the leveling of its walls.” Lincoln would make the point then that no invader had done to American institutions and society—just 55 years after the War of Independence—what “the silent artillery of time” had done. It was a serious time, and in just 13 years, the deafening report of real shells—not figurative cannonballs—would reverberate across our nation in a conflict to rectify the foundational injustice of slavery. Where does failing character derive its momentum? From within us when we neglect not only our founding vision, but the wisdom of the past. Gibbon and Lincoln could have been referring to 2020 America and the road we travel toward national demise. Think about it. There are ascendant voices that call for the abolition of our free enterprise system for a socialist one that has a consistent record of failure, producing increasing tyranny over those it seeks to rule. Winston Churchill may have said it best in 1945, when he warned of the coercive nature of socialist states to compel conformity in no uncertain terms. “No Socialist Government conducting the entire life and industry of the country could afford to allow free, sharp, or violently-worded expressions of public discontent. They would have to fall back on some form of Gestapo, no doubt very humanely directed in the first instance.” Churchill’s concluding sarcasm notwithstanding, this is precisely how totalitarian governments justify crushing individual rights through broadly scoped economic, social, developmental, or cultural rights that expands government power over individuals. That would include the power to silence opposition by the people. One is reminded of the adage that “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” Unconvinced? Consider the movement by leftist radicals to shelve the Constitution of the nation, including aspects of free speech, rights to self-defense, and the security of our property (including our money) from government confiscation. If COVID-19 has shown us anything, it has revealed how quickly constitutional rights can be vitiated by an all-powerful government. And our culture? It is as debased, coarse, and hedonistic as anything found in Rome. We are on the wrong path. We have rejected the wisdom of the ages, our founders, and yes, even our Creator. Why have we allowed this? Why can’t we see it? I suppose the reasons are many. Hubris. Self-idolatry. Materialism. Power. Many indeed. But I am struck by the observations of English author and philosopher G.K. Chesterton writing of “tradition” (wisdom) and “democracy” (the contemporary). “Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom [servant]; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.” America would do well to find the intersection of genuine enlightenment and proven wisdom. Rome lost its way. As we arrive at that crossroads, we need to take the path our Founding Fathers marked “America” and not “Rome”. PS: Be sure to order my new book, Desert Redleg: Artillery Warfare in the First Gulf War. If you have already read it, please visit my book pages on Amazon and Goodreads to write a personal review. Give it your best rating before its national release next week on May 19th. It helps! |
Categories: CBW
0 Comments