From the "Duh" Files - U.S. and Rome Comparisons

Which of you haven't thought of this already? It's too bad that elected representatives are too cowardly to avoid the long-term issues affected by the current path of our nation.

The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”.

These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.

Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.

“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. “In my view, it’s time to learn from history and take steps to ensure the American Republic is the first to stand the test of time.”

...“They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don’t, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably”.

However, don't expect to find such comparisons in today's textbooks or in the speeches of candidates. A government is more free to act on how it wants when it keeps people ignorant of history and truth.

If you're interested, here is an actual middle school assignment to help us see our future so that we either can change it or so that we will know what happened when we go down similar paths to ruin.

Take out your pencils and notebooks and start now.

What similarities exist between Rome and the United States?

Do you feel the United States is in the process of decline as a nation?

Assume for the minute that the U.S. is declining in a manner similar to Rome. How would you stop the slide and return the U.S. to its prior greatness?

One rule...senators may not assassinate the nation's executive leader.