Good evening.
My name is Mr Horrible, and I'm a Roman.
In lots of diaries, I hear put-downs of "The Romans"; "The Romans" did this, "the Romans" did that, etc. What about the Persian empire? How about picking on the Ottoman empire for a change? I mean, even our USA system of government is modeled largely on Roman ideas.
I've had just about enough of people comparing Romans to the USA.
Follow me over the fold to find out how I REALLY feel about it.
Yes, I'm a US citizen, a veteran of the US Army, and being born in Rome in 1942, I'm a Roman.
We Romans were never as foolish as the USA is being now.
Also, we were a lot better at both military and diplomatic affairs.
Finally, as empires do, we collapsed, or perhaps we wised up.
Now, we are a civilized country again. Oh sure, we had to go to "Empires Anonymous" meetings, admit that we were misguided, and start again... as we have so many times.
Now, Rome is the capital of a civilized country. We have good food, lovely women, ineffectual politics, World-class soccer, and social programs that are an order of magnitude better than the USA.
Yes, I live in the USA, and I love this country. I feel that the USA is an amazing country, and perhaps even has the possibility of being a great leader... after we give up the illusion that we can export so-called 'democracy', something that we scarcely have.
Please stop comparing the USA to Rome; if the USA lasts half as long as Rome has, we'll be doing well.
I have great hope for the USA; but first, we have to give up the illusion that we can change the world through military action, and make ourselves strong socially instead of through enriching a military-industrial complex that will end up beggaring us.
Time to grow up. Maybe the USA could emulate the Romans and advance into the post-empire stage.