Thursday, October 19, 2023
Commentary: Bread and Circuses, Then and Now
For decades, I taught a course in European economic history that stressed the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath and spent a couple of lectures talking about the Roman Empire and other ancient civilizations. The Roman Empire lasted over 500 years (by some accounts, even longer) but ultimately declined and fell. Is America and its world leadership (rather than “empire”) undergoing a remarkably similar decline? Is history eerily repeating itself well over a millennium later?
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Professor Bogside concurs xcept this time the "fall" will be available live on Social Media.
ReplyDeleteHistory doesn't repeat, but it frequently rhymes. All empires and kingdoms throughout history have followed a similar arc, technology just speeds it up a bit.
ReplyDelete“Fourth Turning”….
ReplyDeleteEd357
We may be seeing the beginning of the collapse of western civilization. The Euros are pretty well gone already with the massive invasion of savages while the powers that be are doing the same thing here. One wild possibility is that some of western civilization may be preserved in Eastern Europe and even Russia to restart it in 500 years or so. Crazy, I know.
ReplyDeleterich in pa
The Founding Fathers were very aware of world history when they wrote The Constitution and how long a Representative Republic normally lasts. Accordingly, the USA has just about run its course. Now, what are we going to do about it? Being of the peasant class and knowing some history, all I can do about it is piss-n-moan and resist to the best of my ability. My observations of history say that it will take the moneyed class (i.e., the George Washingtons, the Thomas Jeffersons, et al. of our day) to feel the pinch before anything will get done about it.
ReplyDeleteHence Donald Trump. He is NOT a peasant. They can't bribe him, they can't control him, and no matter how hard they try, they cannot seem to get rid of him. He is our "Founding Father" of the day. He is our Thomas Jefferson, our George Washington, Our Benjamin Franklin...all rolled into one.
DeleteFurthermore, unlike his first presidency, he has learned so much, and now, has a major axe to grind. The left knows full well they will have to answer for what they have done if Trump gets back in power. And we are not talking about strongly worded letters or letters in your file...we are talking about elites going to jail. Elites who will get the same treatment they have given to Trump. They will do EVERYTHING to stop his 2d presidency. I wouldn't take assassination off the table if it came to that. The left is that desperate.
If Trump gets too close to the Presidency again the uniParty will have ther Iranians (their allies) take him out. It'll sell as retribution for Soleimani.
DeleteNBA
ReplyDeleteNFL
SNAP
Bread, circuses.
FDR a titan? Are you joking? He was a globalist, socialist, and commie POS that confiscated the real money (gold), ruined America with his socialist control policies, and took us to war to divert attention from his failures. The old saying about power is still true today. The only other one that came close to his crimes was that POS LBJ, his student minion. FDR, LBJ, and JB...the mold is still intact.
ReplyDelete“I recommend taking the vaccines. I did it, it’s good. Take the vaccines.” — Donald J Trump, August 21st, 2021
ReplyDelete"I hope everyone remembers when they're getting the COVID-19 Vaccine, that if I wasn’t President, you wouldn’t be getting that beautiful 'shot' for 5 years, at best, and probably wouldn't be getting it at all. I hope everyone remembers!" — Donald J Trump, February 28th 2021
"I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly." — Donald J Trump, March 16th 2021
"We have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also. But it is a great vaccine. It is a safe vaccine, and it is something that works." — Donald J Trump, March 17th 2021
"Get those shots everyone!" — Donald J Trump, December 17th 2020
“I guess in a certain way, I’m the father of the vaccine because I was the one that pushed it. To get it done in less than nine months was a miracle.” - Donald J Trump, April 29th 2021
"Everybody, go get your shot." — Donald J Trump, February 28th 2021
"It works incredibly well. 95%, maybe even more than that...and it is really saving our country and it is saving frankly the world." — Donald J Trump, March 9th 2021
"It will save millions of lives, and soon end the pandemic once and for all. These vaccines are also very safe." — Donald J Trump, December 11th 2020
"The Vaccine and the Vaccine rollout are getting the best of reviews. Moving along really well. Get those shots everyone!" — Donald J Trump, December 17th 2020
"Well, I got the Pfizer, and I would have been very happy with any of them. I thought a very bad statement was when they did a pause on Johnson & Johnson. I think that frightened people. That was a bad thing to do. At that time, when they did the pause, they had six people that may have had some difficulty out of millions that received it. But I think the pause was a very bad thing to do." — Donald J Trump, October 2nd 2021
"During my administration, everybody wanted the vaccine. There was nobody saying oh, gee, I don't want to take it. Now they say that. And that's because they don't trust the Biden administration. I can think of no other reason. But they say we don't want it, we aren't going to take it. When I was there, everybody wanted it and we were doing great. Well, the military did a fantastic job." — Donald J Trump, October 7th 2021
"I'm very proud of the vaccine, I've taken it, you've probably taken it. But I'm very proud of it. I think we could have another situation with the Spanish Flu, 1917, where up to 100 million people were killed." — Donald J Trump, August 18th 2021