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05/17/2005 Archived Entry: "Gordon on New Roman Empire"

Ruminations from Gordon P. on America, the New Roman Empire...

Interesting allegation I just heard made on a documentary about the Roman Empire: Julius Caesar expended a larger fraction of the wealth of the Roman Empire on his attempts to conquer the British Isles than the U.S. spent on the Space Program. (I'm not sure if this is a comment on how much Caesar spent on world conquest, or how little the U.S. has spent on "conquering" space...)

Another interesting observation, relevant to the U.S.'s current "Georgius Dubya" (AKA The Man Who Would Be Caesar): _ALL_ Roman Wars of Conquest were justified in the Roman Senate as "defensive" wars, i.e., that the conquered nation was a "threat" to the Roman State. So the concept of a "preemptive defense" pre-dates GeeDubya, Rummy, Wolfowitz, et al by at least 2000 years... :-(

More and more, I see the U.S.A. under the NeoCons as a latter-day Rome. The folks who take the "Book of Revelations" and Biblical prophecies too literally have always claimed that a "New Roman Empire" would play a pivotal role in the Armageddon, and fear that the E.U. represents the penultimate step before the establishment of such a "New Rome" --- but perhaps they are keeping watch over the wrong side of the ocean... :-(

P.S. Ha! Now _here's_ something I hadn't known about: According to the documentary, Caesar's early power-base was built on a previously untapped special-interest group --- the "Urban Poor" !!! He was also known to "press the flesh" in his early days, which at that time was almost unheard of. (Most politicians of that time apparently appealed only to the aristocracy, not the masses, and mostly did so at the equivalent of "cocktail parties"...) I guess that makes Caesar a "Sedan-Chair Liberal"... :-P