65 million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the earth. They were the most powerful animals on the planet and were multitudinous and diverse in kind. They could be found everywhere as carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores; predator, prey, and scavenger. Despite their acknowledged power and diversity, they were annihilated by a meteorite and ceased to exist almost entirely, leaving behind only fossilized remains.
In 476 A.D. Romulus Augustulus was dethroned as the last western Roman emperor, marking the end of Roman power in all of Europe west of the Balkans. Rome had been a world power for nearly a millennium and had conquered almost all of its neighbors (excluding Persia and Germania) with relative ease. Their culture was vibrant (satire was first developed by the Romans), their laws provided their society a strong foundation (most modern western legal systems are based on Emperor Justinian’s update of the Roman legal code), and their language is the direct base for Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, and is an indirect contributor to German and English. Rome has influenced our modern world more than any other singular nation in history.
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Despite all of this, Rome fell to simple barbarians, and now only the ruins of their once proud empire remain as a visible reminder of the fate of all nations. Here in America, however, we have forgotten the lessons of our forebears and are careening blindly into destruction. America has a rich history, and we have done much to make the world a better place, but we seem to think ourselves immune to the forces that bring down all empires.
Our mad rush into every military conflict that arises in any corner of the world has sapped our strength and will to fight; the incessant bickering and blaming that constitutes our governmental and national conscience has divided us over every issue; our lack of prudential consideration in regard to spending, where everyone with their hand out, and many without even that, are given more than we can afford to give, has made our debt a titanic monster preparing to strike. All of these threats are bearing down on us like that meteor that was headed for earth so long ago, or like the barbarians who were headed towards Rome, and our ability to deal with them now will determine whether we survive or succumb.
We have made the mistake that power equals privilege; that our historical and cultural strength has given us a divine right to exist. This belief is found amongst both liberals and conservatives, who argue about the arrangement of the furniture while the house is burning down. Believing that we are immune to destruction does not protect us from it.
Taking a moment to step away from the blatant alarmism, all nations inevitably end. There is nothing anyone can do to stop that from happening, all cultures eventually fade away (some more abruptly than others and some may linger on forever) and it must be regarded as part of the fate mortals must endure in this world. However, striving for the impossible does not mean toiling in vain. All faiths (not just religions, all systems of belief that call one to think of others as well as oneself) teach that the struggle for perfection is worthwhile, even if the end result is unable to be attained. We do not need to accept that our nation will end in our lifetime, and there is no reason why we should be the generation to drop the torch.
Like the Romans (and the dinosaurs) before us, we have reached the peak which gazes down into the valley of desolation, our ruin lies ahead and time is against us. Overall, we face many dire problems, any one of which could devour us and turn us into a mere legacy.
How much longer before we let our own meteorite strike?
