The Roman Empire existed from 27 BC to 476 AD or about 503 years. Ragged bits of the empire lasted for a few years but when Germanic tribes and others including the Visigoths, Vandals and Saxons raided the ‘Eternal City’ of Rome in 455 it was clear that weaknesses accumulated over the centuries would cause the fall of the Roman Empire that is estimated to be in 476.
Factors that contributed to failure are considered by historians as corruption and political incompetence, overspending and oppressive taxation. Political ‘rot’ extended to the Roman Senate. Over a 75 year period during the 2nd and 3rd chaotic centuries, 20 leaders were elevated to Emperor but were deposed (many by assassination) and some slaughters were committed by the guards who were assigned to guard the Emperor.
There are parallels in our own government leadership today. Corruption, political incompetence, a 23 trillion national debt and promises by some candidates for the Presidency of the United States are advocating spending trillions of dollars of tax extractions to pay off student debt, ‘Medicare for all’, free college, free food stamps and monthly stipends to all citizens over age 18.
The cost of these and other benefits would cost trillions of dollars that would assure government and economic collapse with staggering consequences. A large part of the process would be ‘redistribution of wealth’ also called making the rich poor to make the poor rich.
Our great nation was created in 1776 with a Constitution that was published and ratified by Congress on June 21st, 1788. This document has guided the political and government policy of the USA for almost 232 years. However, some candidates think this document is out of date. Adherence to Constitutional principles is only a small part of the divisiveness that that has become vogue in a wide swath of our culture. In fact the liberal progressive movement called ‘Resist’ has morphed into viral antagonism.
One liberal presidential candidate has said that he would remove certain firearms from owners. In 1971 the Mexican Constitution was amended to award full government control over firearms access. In 1972 strict gun control measures became law in Mexico. There is just one gun store in Mexico with a population of 126 million. In the first nine months of 2019, Mexico sustained 25,890 homicides or about six times as many murders per 100,000 citizens as in the USA. Guns are entering Mexico from Central America, China and other countries.
Another liberal candidate has indicated that she would pay off all student debt due from 43 million ‘students’ amounting to $1.5 trillion. She would provide another $800 billion to K-12 education over 10 years. She would end all government funding for ‘Charter Schools.’ Her ‘Medicare plan for all’ would cost $32 trillion over 10 years with no hint of where the money would come from.
She believes that unions should have more power; one requirement would be that 40% of corporate board members would be made up of employees. If that would prevail, how about 40% of union boards be made up of corporate executives and strikes could be held only when all directors agree that a strike is justified? The U.S. Department of Labor reports that there were more than 20 major strikes in 2018 involving about 485,000 people, the highest number in 32 years.
The liberal progressive Democratic candidates are aiming at more government control and more government dependency by citizens, an abhorrent implicit form of socialism.
Can we reverse the history of capitalist democracy? Here is what Alexander Tyler is reported to have said in 1887 when he was a Professor of History at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland: “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over the loose fiscal policy which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
Tune your mind to the professor’s statement again; every vote counts.
Dick Baynton