Recovery day...

Moving a little slow today, putting myself back together after our 18-year-old had his graduation party last  night.  All the usual local crowd says "Hi" to you all, by the way...

I have almost finished the "History of Rome" by Mike Duncan, and I too have seen the "parallels" that can and are drawn between Rome and the United States.  They are too many to count, and some do (as Ryan implied) apply to our current state of affairs.

However, I (like Mr. Duncan himself) hesitate to indulge in such comparisons, simply because for every similarity or parallel that CAN be drawn, there are thousands of details that magnify the differences between the two "superpowers".

The single, most glaring disparity between the two is their histories.  The US, at 238 years young, is still at the height of its greatness (no matter what its detractors might say to the contrary).  By the time the Republic was drawing to a close and the Julio-Claudians were bring about the Princep Imperium, "Rome" as a nation had existed and dominated the Mediterranean region for nearly 500 years.  The entire scope of the "Empire" runs the better part of 2,000 years, from start to finish.  To compare the two is simply impossible with any degree of objective certainty.  The USA may simply be a "flash in the pan" compared to the scope of what the Romans accomplished in regards to pan-cultural and multi-ethnic stability and security.

There are lessons to be learned, no question... TONS of lessons can be learned from what the Romans did and did not do over that 2,000 year span.  We simply must be careful not to draw too close a comparison between the two vastly different states.