The founders of our country said at numerous different points that they were trying to emulate a new Roman Republic when they ‘founded’ the USA.
I pledge allegiance to my Flag,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
October 11, 1892 (James Upham)
This guy got it correct, it is indeed a republic not a democracy like many people seem to believe. In a true democracy each citizen would have one vote for each piece of legislation that came up for discussion. Obviously this is time-infeasible; nothing would ever get done. Thus a republic is a much better (theoretically speaking anyway) form of government… but this is a sidetrack.
When the founding fathers modeled their ‘new Roman empire,’ they were neglecting one major little issue. The Roman empire eventually fell. This was due to corruption and other problems, and the empire is regarded as having ended when the Goths came down, occupied, sacked and burnt Rome (roughly 410 A.D.). The Roman empire had a huge influence over the known civilized world (at the time), they accomplished this through a combination of economic, cultural and armed forces. Obviously the founding fathers wanted to draw a parallel with the cultural, economic and (to a degree) armed forces controlling the world, they neglected the time part of the equation WHERE ROME FELL.
We can see this issue in modern times. The if the United States were to become Rome (which it can be argued that they have, large army, massive cultural force and an almost unspeakable economic force) the Goths would almost certainly be one of the rogue or terrorist organizations existing. The Gothic tribes were regarded as inferior in terms of their fighting ability by Rome and as such little attention was paid to them until 410 (You decide which modern organization most resemble the Goths…hint think 2001…that’s my opinion though).
Rambling partially coherent diatribe over.
Speaking about names and all…The founding fathers were trying to be ‘Gothic’ in their rebelling from the tyrannical England. When you get outside of the traditional NewEngland borders you run into interesting naming issues for towns. While the NE states have names like Lincoln, Concord, Dover…the towns formed after the revolutionary war tend to have names reminiscent of the Roman empire; think Rome, Syracuse, Cicero, Ithaca…etc
yeah, totally.
All roads lead to Rome, until Rome falls.
I often think about Rome when people talk about the infallible "power" of our country.
:)