This Can't End Well
I read a piece today—or was it yesterday?—about the change in what the United States of America means to the rest of the world.
In the 70s we were one of the superpowers. After Reagan, with his head full of vicious intentions, outspent the USSR, we became the sole superpower and then, in short order, became the "world's policeman".
Not happy with a peace-officer role (where's the FunExcitementGlory in that? That's only DutyDiligenceHonor), she goes on to become the world's "indispensible nation".
Here's the scary part. After the events of 9/11 (that's 11-9 to the non-USAers out there), we have become known as "New Rome". Now, that's a pretty high honor, considering how powerful and important the Romans were. Until you remember how that all ended.
History has this interesting way of coming 'round the bend again and again, trading tri-corns for fedoras and togas for business-casual, and it only shows up when the world isn't looking. Pretty stupid of all of us, really, but patterns are patterns, gravity-wells are gravity-wells, and orbits are strongly stable, especially those that swoop around Strange Attractors. In this case, the Attractor is question is the soul. Humanity, that is.
The culprit this time? Same as the Romans: the rise of militarism. Other folks on the net have posted the n-steps towards Fascism, but the Romans were never really fascists. They ended up with the burden of Empire in their laps. Who can say, really, if they chose it, or their oligarchs chose it, or whether they were all on a collective bender, lubricated with the self-salubriousness of being the self-declared Best Republic That Ever Was.
Shakespeare, perhaps, is most guilty in hiding the True History from the rest of us in favor of wringing entertainment out of historical momentousness, but it's not like he closed the libraries and burned the books so to frustrate the curious.
And his Brutus—and perhaps Brutus' Historical Himself—had to know that Caesar wasn't the problem and therefore Caesar's elimination Rome's salvation.
And that gang of assassins had to know that the Eides of another March would bring a Marc Antony, had to know what effect their bloodsport would have on the general population.
Shakespeare, Brutus and those in charge (and those in power) here today all use the one lever guaranteed to create one-way motion: the general populace.
Brutus knew that Caesar was not Rome's problem, its people were: they allowed a Caesar in the first place.
When a nation shifts from self-involved to self-anointed, from self-preserving to self-interested, the lever has been employed. One way.
It ends when the fulcrum breaks and no sooner. And by then it have to have been in fire and the shit-storm of violent revolution.
Bush isn't our problem. We are.
As for the one-way movement: prove me wrong. Vote.