A couple of weeks ago I actually read your old blog post where you mentioned listening to a bunch of history podcasts and because of that decided to listen to the History of Rome. Around the point where I finished listening to it (who would have thought a podcast could be such a monumental work!), the post comparing America to the Roman Republic went up. Now I start the History of Byzantium, I am about midway through Justinian, and this post goes up. All this is to say, I greatly enjoyed these series of posts.
I am also constantly comparing Rome and America when listening; I think its impossible for any American not to do so. America isn't Rome and this state will have its own existence in the history of the world, but the parallels are there. I think the last 100 years of American history have slowly primed Americans to be more accepting of an absolute ruler, but will that actually happen? There were just recently a massive series of protests explicitly against the very idea of absolute rule. An Augustus figure could just as easily not happen as happen. Similarly, could this state last for the next thousand years? Sure, there seems to be massive turmoil in the American imperial core and its foreign interests, but America is still extremely powerful and influential. There are no conceivable threats to American rule over its own territory at the moment. But who knows.
I am a big fan of Robin's podcast too. I want to say that he does plan to go on after the narrative ends and do inspections on different parts of the East Roman state, like how he previously did with the conditions of women, or public health. Its how he generates all of his income so he doesn't plan to give it up anytime soon.
Well, that was thought-provoking, to say the least. Maybe all governments are cyclical in geo-political time. Doesn't help us figure out where America is on that time-line, but it doesn't feel particularly positive. Let's fight anyway, see where that goes. Couldn't hurt. Might even help.
It's a fair theory, but unfortunately for us, there's a big difference between that fallen empire and our falling empire. The Romans didn't have nukes.
I don’t see how that’s dispositive. The Soviets had nukes too and lost their empire in a whimper. TBD how much of it stayed lost, true, but that was true of the Romans over and over again as well.
A couple of weeks ago I actually read your old blog post where you mentioned listening to a bunch of history podcasts and because of that decided to listen to the History of Rome. Around the point where I finished listening to it (who would have thought a podcast could be such a monumental work!), the post comparing America to the Roman Republic went up. Now I start the History of Byzantium, I am about midway through Justinian, and this post goes up. All this is to say, I greatly enjoyed these series of posts.
I am also constantly comparing Rome and America when listening; I think its impossible for any American not to do so. America isn't Rome and this state will have its own existence in the history of the world, but the parallels are there. I think the last 100 years of American history have slowly primed Americans to be more accepting of an absolute ruler, but will that actually happen? There were just recently a massive series of protests explicitly against the very idea of absolute rule. An Augustus figure could just as easily not happen as happen. Similarly, could this state last for the next thousand years? Sure, there seems to be massive turmoil in the American imperial core and its foreign interests, but America is still extremely powerful and influential. There are no conceivable threats to American rule over its own territory at the moment. But who knows.
It could well be that Pax Americana us about to begin.
I am a big fan of Robin's podcast too. I want to say that he does plan to go on after the narrative ends and do inspections on different parts of the East Roman state, like how he previously did with the conditions of women, or public health. Its how he generates all of his income so he doesn't plan to give it up anytime soon.
Well, that was thought-provoking, to say the least. Maybe all governments are cyclical in geo-political time. Doesn't help us figure out where America is on that time-line, but it doesn't feel particularly positive. Let's fight anyway, see where that goes. Couldn't hurt. Might even help.
It's a fair theory, but unfortunately for us, there's a big difference between that fallen empire and our falling empire. The Romans didn't have nukes.
I don’t see how that’s dispositive. The Soviets had nukes too and lost their empire in a whimper. TBD how much of it stayed lost, true, but that was true of the Romans over and over again as well.
They certainly did not lose their empire. They merely rebranded. And they still have plenty of nukes.
Ah, they “certainly did not”, eh? Well I guess that settles it and shows me.
Ask the Ukrainians if they feel unthreatened by empire.
The country currently being invaded as Russia tries to regain its empire
lol so your point is, you’re not worried about nukes. Great. 👍🏽