Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 14, 2022 8:15:47 GMT -8
It certainly does. As Yogi Berra might have said, History is a long time. The Roman Republic controlled vast areas outside of Italy. I think calling it a "republic" is probably a misnomer. It was more of an administrative and defuse dictatorship...with Italy itself mostly spared what Rome otherwise unleashed on others. This may be the role and the efficacy of this "republican" form of government. They had rules for themselves and different ones for everyone else. And it mostly worked for a tiime. What was interesting, and probably unique, was that a vast amount of lives and territory were under the control of a few hundred men in Rome. And both Caesar and Pompey vastly expanded the size of the "republic." Thus this "republic" achieved what it set out to do. But what this did was to give great power to the great generals. The areas and booty outside of Rome (or even nearby provinces) dwarfed, or at least rivaled, what the "republican" form of government in Rome could administer and handle. If not Caesar then surely someone else would have toppled this inbred oligarch in Rome that surely did have some republican trappings but otherwise could be called simply a distributed dictatorship with checks-and-balances mostly in the interest of protecting Roman citizens, particularly those on the Italian peninsula. I don't know what the plebs at the time thought about Caesar, but we are fast approaching the point where most people (left or right) prefer a more dictatorial form of government in order to vanquish their enemies, thus the explosion of Executive Orders, and even the imperial nature of many versions of the Supreme Court. And I do think that only a modern Sulla would have any chance of restoring the republic to within more or less Constitutional limits. But where are we actually headed? Who knows? History is indeed a long time. The Roman Republic, 49 – 30 BC.  |
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 14, 2022 8:18:14 GMT -8
True enough, but signs of decline were long apparent. From sometime in the 4th century onward, the army was, to a very large extent, made up of peoples on the borders of the empire. The Germans, Dacians, Illyrians and others filled the ranks. In fact, since a number of the later-day emperors came out of the army, many were foreigners. No Romans/Latins/Italians to be found. Even after the Ostrogothic take over of much of the Western part of the empire, the Kings tried to maintain some form of the old institutions for the sake of legitimacy as well as tradition.
The Emperor in Constantinople had great legitimacy although he often did not rule over much in the West. The East kept up the old Roman traditions for a few hundred years, but eventually succumbed to its Oriental surroundings and Latin was replaced by Greek. It is not for nothing that even today we call a situation which is complicated, obscure, tricky and dishonest Byzantine.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 14, 2022 8:33:19 GMT -8
What most people want has veered far more toward security and away from freedom. What gets people angry today is if there is any interruption to their commercial hedonism. And any ideological "standing on principle" movement would necessarily require people to value something other than their immediate gratification.
Thus true reform is almost impossible to conceive of today. One of the biggest differences between Rome and America is the sheer size of government. And there are dangers, of course, as more and more of that government is centralized in our version of Rome (Washington D.C.).
But for now, the power is still widespread and diffuse. The Roman Republic could so easily be toppled if only because there were a lot of eggs being carried in one basket.
Our future is much more likely to be a constant Slouch Toward Gomorrah. And because our enemies have no sympathy for our plight, it's a real question as to whether or not we will be able to effectively defend ourselves in the future. We see this in miniature in Uvalde.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 14, 2022 8:48:50 GMT -8
Nothing last forever, so perhaps there is no need to explain why the Roman Empire fell (in the West). But the best explanation I've heard is that the Roman-citizen-based esprit de corps was basically outsourced to foreigners. I mean, with all due respect, if Mexicans become a voting majority in America, how many of them are going to care about George Washington?
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 14, 2022 9:35:17 GMT -8
That was probably a large part of it. One should also consider that possibility that the number of Roman citizens was significantly reduced by wars. Even if it was not, there were probably not enough of them to spread throughout the Empire and keep up standards. If you are going to take in huge numbers of foreigners with different cultures than your own, you had better do your best to insure these foreigners acculturate and learn to love and respect your culture. The Romans initially did a good job of this. We did that in America for about 150-160 years. After that our elites no longer cared. They had either moved away from Rome and picked up foreign cultures or needed more slaves for their latifundia. The institution of serfdom had part of its origins in the late 4th/early 5th century Roman Empire. Lands were being abandoned and the state needed to maximize taxes, which were largely based on produce from agriculture. Therefore laws were passed requiring people to stay on the land where they were born. |
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 26, 2022 20:41:49 GMT -8
This is extremely cool. I don't believe the government today would allow workers to stay in the building while this was being done, nor do I believe the workers today would volunteer to keep working under such conditions. The mountain coming to Mohammed (metaphorically) |
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Post by artraveler on Jul 27, 2022 6:46:46 GMT -8
Very cool and you are correct, these days the building would never be occupied even if the employer was willing to let them work. Altogether, too much liability.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 27, 2022 8:13:52 GMT -8
I've never heard of such a thing. That seems like a lot of work to do what they did. But it must have worked out. If they could only do that to the White House (and many other establishments) and get them to "turn right." Might be the only way to accomplish it.
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Post by kungfuzu on Sept 15, 2022 15:20:23 GMT -8
A long, but interesting, article by Victor David Hanson. His premise is that the Old South and Silicon Valley have much in common. Both were based on economies for the elites. There is much to be said for the insight of this piece. The Old South shall rise again |
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Post by artraveler on Sept 15, 2022 15:58:08 GMT -8
One of the unique features of the old South was most Southern families between 1700 and 1865 were second and third sons of wealth landowners in England. The same is true in the tech world when you look at Steve Jobs, and rest of the tech guizzilonairs.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 15, 2022 17:33:27 GMT -8
Yes, that is a long one. I just finished it. And I think it would be such a shame if North Korea targeted Silicon Valley with one of their bombs.
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Post by kungfuzu on Sept 15, 2022 18:15:46 GMT -8
While I agree with Hanson's premise, I think it could be shortened by saying that our modern elites are trying to do what elites do, i.e. establish feudal societies which restrict the movement, in this case economic, of us serfs, while they maintain control over the heights of the economy and government. This goal has been very apparent for some decades. Technology, the Fed and Wall Street have just given them a means to turbo charge their concentration of power. As I mentioned before, a fraction of the population (0.5-1.0%) have more assets than the bottom 90%. The 9.0-9.5% in between are very important and must be expanded while the 0.5-1.0% are separated from their power.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Sept 16, 2022 7:18:36 GMT -8
No matter where you go in this world, or in what time, the propensity is for society to divide itself into lords and serfs.
The modern theme is that the serfs don't mind too much when they have a plethora of streaming services, cheap fast-food, internet porn, sports-and-spectacle, and Free Stuff from the government. The serfs can be easily bought. And they have been bought.
By the time people figure out the implications of the incremental attacks on freedom and private property, it will be too late. Most people will have developed into a docile animal, angered only (and most) by those who reject the same leash-and-collar that they have adopted. Those with ambition and talent will simply adopt the Progressive dogma, rightly gauging that it is better to be a master than a serf.
Whether individual states or localities can resist this is up for grabs. It's not likely to be the case because the fulcrum point of all this still is feminism, which is a reality-denying venture and one that puts feelings over facts. It sets the stage for mankind believing that there is no deep truth that one has to deal with. One can just do whatever one wishes and it will all work out.
Well, look at the economic numbers under Biden. We see once again that it just doesn't all work out. But will the serfs rise up? Or will the Democrats continue to be able to buy their cooperation?
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Post by kungfuzu on Oct 10, 2022 9:18:34 GMT -8
I thought today was Columbus Day (not really that's October 12th, but asshole bureaucrats made all holidays fall on Mondays and Fridays) but when looking at my online bank account I see it is actually "Indigenous People's Day." These idiots just make shit up as they go along. They don't have anything to back up their pronouncements except their feelings. To which I say the only appropriate reply is "fuck you, you leftist pricks." Happy Columbus Day!   |
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Post by kungfuzu on Oct 10, 2022 12:07:13 GMT -8
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Post by artraveler on Oct 11, 2022 10:57:33 GMT -8
The most common thought among the pointy head group is that until about 15,000 years ago the Americas were uninhabited and the ancestors of the Indians crossed over from Asia and slowly settled from Alaska to Tera del Feugo. The presence of European DNA was excluded until not long ago when discoveries in the Northeast turned up dating back 30,000 years. there is a lot of debate about who got here first and when.
there is no doubt that Columbus discovered North America, although he had no knowledge of the vastness of the North and South American continents. Interesting trivia fact, until the Spanish introduced horses in the 15th century all Indians traveled, and hunted on foot. The horse made the plains Indians and their culture change in a dramatic fashion. Tribes like the Crow, Sioux, Apache, and Navajo became more aggressive, in part because it became easier to hunt buffalo and as their nutrition improved they became stronger and the birthrate improved.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on Oct 17, 2022 20:01:31 GMT -8
By all means. Give them back some land. Give them the state of California. I'm serious. There's enough room there for all the tribes to have expansive amounts of land. Otherwise, this "Indigenous People's Day" is meaningless. It's just a way for white liberals to feel good about owning the land that these natives once owned.
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Post by artraveler on Dec 12, 2022 6:19:07 GMT -8
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Post by artraveler on May 26, 2023 11:07:17 GMT -8
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
Posts: 12,261
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Post by Brad Nelson on May 28, 2023 6:51:37 GMT -8
That's quite a speech.
It would be interesting to talk to these yutes and see what they consider to be tyrannical in today's society.
Anyone who takes a shot at this idiotic Marvel stuff is okay by me.
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