I watched a program on Nero and his amazing palace the other day. A very interesting program, which, among other things, points out we don't really know much about Nero if all we know comes from the Hollywood stereotype. I won't go into all the details qua Nero, but one thing that stood out for me, though I did not know exactly why, was the idea that Nero always felt like he had to
prove he deserved to be Emporer, because he wasn't one of the Warrior Emps. No, he was really kinda soft: a singer, poet, and charioteer.
Bush's new "Moon proposal" suddenly makes sense to me.
It's all about Poppy, of course. And all about knowing he's not that sharp. He thinks to get himself up to the standard of great Presidents past, he needs "bold ideas" and "grand visions." You could say that this (coupled with rank greed) has defined his vision of his Presidency. It's been one big, audacious scheme after another.
Nero was a bit like that too. He thought, heck, if I can't win a war, I can at least build the hugest fekkin' palace the world has ever seen. And he did. But he wasn't much of an administrator. He didn't see the signs, which were many, that Rome was coming on some hard times indeed. He focused his attention not on what needed doing, but on big ideas that made him look good.
To be fair to Nero, he had a vision of a society that was based not on war, but art. That was his big mistake and he didn't survive it. Bush does not share this "flaw," so his reign isn't threatened by those in power. But we sure are!
We are all, unless by fortune of accident or disease we die first, going to suffer real consequences for what Bush has done. Terrorism is only part of it, but yes, he's made a whole new generation of extremists consider the US enemy #1. There is also the blind eye turned toward the environmental crisis, which some scientists have warned will be devastating within 50 years; the deficit has soared to disgusting levels, the gap between rich and poor has .. well you know the litany. But during all of this GW isn't even looking. He's not paying attention to that. He's worried about living up to the status of "Great President."
And it was exactly that sense of Nero that created the myth "Nero fiddled while Rome burned." (In fact, Nero was out of town..) A hundred years from now, what's left of civilization will look scornfully back at 2000 as the decisive moment when all was lost.
Unless we do something to change that.