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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Crisis of the Third Century in Rome mirror those in America today. |
| 2024-06-26 |
| [AmericanThinker] Sometimes history is history, sometimes it’s a harbinger, and sometimes it’s current events. The story of the Roman Emperor Aurelian is all three… Aurelian took power in 270 AD. The previous 35 years had been nothing short of a disaster for the Empire on multiple fronts. The trouble began with Commodus’s (well-deserved) assassination in 192 AD. After that, the army, always a force to be reckoned with, required ever-increasing bribes to remain loyal. Not surprisingly, the power of the army increased accordingly. At the same time, the treasury continued its centuries-long practice of reducing the amounts of silver and gold in Roman coins, creating a ticking timebomb of inflation. … In sum, we have an empire that’s coming apart at the seams, where government employees are corrupt and demanding that more money and power be handed to them. We have an empire where inflation is rampant, and the citizens are addicted to government giveaways. We have an empire whose borders are being breached by countless invaders. Then, a competent man steps in to take control and try to fix the problems. He begins to right the ship, and he’s killed by corrupt officials. You may be asking yourself whether I just summed up Aurelian’s reign or if I’m describing today’s America. That’s because many of the problems of the Crisis of the Third Century in Rome mirror those in America today. Indeed, just as the Praetorian Guard was known for auctioning off the diadem and murdering emperors, we’ve seen the FBI and the CIA conspire to destroy presidents, something they’ve been doing for at least half a century. They may even have had a hand in killing one president. Our borders are being overrun, 30% of the government’s spending is on welfare, we’re being spent into oblivion, and not enough Americans want to join the military, so the Pentagon is turning to immigrants. While it might not seem obvious, the story of Aurelian is actually a story of hope. Not for him, obviously, but for America because he demonstrated that an empire in decline doesn’t have to acquiesce to its own demise. A crumbling nation can be rebuilt, a listing ship can be righted, and a disappearing culture can be resurrected. What it takes is leadership. Troubled times require a man willing to challenge what might be called “the new normal” and who reveres the culture and civilization that made the nation great in the first place. Donald Trump is just such a man. Corrupt officials feared Aurelian because he clearly revered the Empire, and everything he did was to bring it back to its former glory. The corrupt and power-hungry members of the Swamp hate Donald Trump because he loves America, and most of the things he did and still wants to do are an attempt to make her great again. Because his reign lasted only five years, Aurelian rarely finds his name in the pantheon of the greatest emperors. That’s unfortunate because he almost single-handedly reversed the Roman Empire’s collapse. That empire would then survive for another two centuries after his assassination. Donald Trump finds himself in a similar position, facing a nation in decline and in danger of collapse. Let’s hope that he can successfully and safely (both for himself and the American people) bring America back from the brink. If he does, then America may lead the world for the next two centuries as it did for the last two. That just might get him on Mount Rushmore. |
| Posted by:NoMoreBS |
| #5 /\ Plus recruitment of non-Roman cits for the army. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2024-06-26 17:40 |
| #4 It's more like the end of the Roman republic. Fake trials, execution of political rivals, use of private mobs in the streets. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-06-26 17:26 |
| #3 Key thing in that ancient Roman crisis was the tendency of the Emperor's security detail and even of his extended family to murder the incumbent to substitute someone they liked better. Poison provided plausible deniability to the perps. |
| Posted by: Gromble+Dribble4342 2024-06-26 13:10 |
| #2 Well, we're currently in third century America, so ... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2024-06-26 13:04 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2024-06-26 12:48 |