“Those that cannot remember the
pass are condemned to repeat it”, (George Santayana 1863 to 1952), “History may
not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot”, (Mark Twain), two of the many
quotes honoring historic recurrence, one of my favorite’s is, “Insanity: doing
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, (Commonly
attributed to Albert Einstein, but wholly lacking any proof). Most often I hear
these astute observations from self identified sages, or the somewhat less than
wise politicians defending a flawed ideology. Who can argue with the wisdom of
a dead great man or the evocative oratory of a living great man? Especially if
the quote fits within the 120 character limit or the 6 second sound bite, all meant
to prove that my side is smart while your side is stupid.
Paying homage to the theory of
historic recurrence, many ask me if America is repeating the decline of the
Roman Empire, or are we traveling the same bunny trail of the British Empire.
The short answer is, No, for a better answer, read some history books and
decide for yourself.
History repeats because, as near as
I can discern, we have not changed since the start of writing and most likely
much longer. The major vices of humanity were identified millennia past, wrath,
greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. Our demonic dark side battles
with our self-sacrificing angelic civilized tendency, more often the dark side
wins. The leader ruled by the vices is common. The leader ruled by virtue is
rare. In this sense, yes, we are repeating the mistakes of ancient Rome. What
we are repeating is abominable leadership guided by vice, with a population following
short term self interest for personal gain.
This is the view of the cynic, a
cynic currently enjoying the vice of sloth. I have almost perfected the art of procrastination
and the practice of doing nothing. Enough bragging, back to the subject of
historic recurrence, which is really the subject of human repetition in like circumstance.
History is written about the great,
I have read of Caesar, Charlemagne, Kemal Ataturk and Abe Lincoln, little is
written about the millions that suffered and died in their time. The story of
Jane Doe working and raising her children will not make the best seller list.
Without a million Roman Jane Does’, Caesar would have never been. No Roman Jane
Doe, no Roman Caesar. This insight by Caesar is what allowed a truly great leader
to be truly great, this is the difference between the virtuosity of Caesar
and the vileness of Nero, the Roman Emperor that lived the vices of wrath,
greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony doomed the Roman Empire. Generations
of parasitic leaders slowly bleed Rome. Eventually Rome fell to the relentless invading
Germanic barbarian because of rule by morally corrupt Roman barbarians.
Do not think of only one leader, in America we have currently chosen about a half million elected political leaders. Emperor Nero may have fiddled while Rome burned, but he had thousands of accomplices. Do not listen to the morally bankrupt Congressperson telling you it is the other politician, all must choose between virtue and vice. Empty political theater is easy, governing is hard. Good governing is very hard, and only possible with personal virtue. It is not what they say, it is what they do. We have a crop of politicians that claim they were elected to not govern. They must stop others from governing. These are misguided individuals that have surrendered to their vices. It is easy to destroy, it is hard to restore.
The grand current of history is the
cultural evolution of civilization, and the slow development of better government.
We are in a battle between our human vices and our human virtues. Our weapon in
this battle is civilization. We police ourselves with moral rules, with the
moral rules learned from tragic results. The desperate lives and horrific
deaths of billions slowly taught us the rules for civilization. The increasing
rapidity of technological discovery has allowed 7 billion living souls to cover
the earth, it also allows us to commit species suicide, the difference will be
determined in our age old struggle between vice and virtue.
Will America fall like the Roman
Empire? Without virtuous leaders, yes it will. Do we have virtuous leaders? Ask
Jane Doe.
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