imported post
cloudcroft wrote:
WhiteFeather,
That link re: the fall of Rome (listing causes) left out at least one major cause: Towards the end, Rome let just about ANYONE become a citizen, especially foreigners who couldn't have cared less about assimilating and/or taking on traditional Roman values, etc..
A "Balkanization" of Rome took place -- lots of self-segregated ethnic groups -- much like what has been happening here in America.
The once highly-valued Roman citizenship became cheapened and almost meaningless...just liketoday re:AMERICAN citizenship.
And the Romanslet just about ANYONE into their once purely-Roman "citizen-soldier" armies, too...foreigners of all sorts who weren't even citizens (and as mentioned, didn't care what that meant)...like America has beendoing re: its military.
Yes, there are LOTS of similarities bewteen ancient Rome and modern America...and most of them negative.
-- John D.
That's interesting, considering Ron Paul is the only candidate who has brought up the issue of eliminating automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.
I think there is one big area where the Rome-America analogy doesn't quite match up, though: the size, role, and influence of the military, and its makeup.
The Roman army consisted of large units that basically operated on a semi-independent basis, being so far from the capitol and with slow communication. As you pointed out, many of these units were composed almost entirely of foreigners in the latter years. And after Julius Ceasar, the idea of seperating the military from civil affairs was tossed out the window.
America is not like that, not yet, anyway. The military is much more tightly controlled from the center and the units are not built along ethnic or regional lines, but rather a mixed bag. And as the U.S. military is a very small proportion of the population, it follows that the number of immigrants naturalized by service is also very small. Certainly they must be dwarfed by the number of illegals crossing the border every day.
Just my musings on the matter.