Opinion written by George McClellan:

We often talk about the fall of the Roman Empire, but we don’t do anything about it. Let me try. Most of us, me included, do not speak Latin or Greek so, if we are interested in reading the ancient philosophers whose writings helped form the basis of our western culture, we must rely on the interpretation of those classics by modern scholars who do understand how they apply to our modern world today. With that understanding, the parallels become frightening!

The worlds once greatest empire, the Roman Empire, extensively written about in the classics,  existed for over a millennia and covered a vast area of Europe and Africa. The strength of Its existence was its strong foundation based on Roman Law (the Constitution) until, for convenience, the law was circumvented, first by the Emperor (think Obama), then the powerful (think the Clinton’s), and then by anyone else who could get away with it (think the Democrats).

As a result, Roman Law weakened until it was inevitably ignored altogether and the once amending principles of public discourse turned into static positions as solid and unmovable as concrete, resulting in no agreement, no compromise and certainly no advancement. Sport, sensuous pleasure and dissipation were the compromise issues of the day to which all acceded.

Politically, respect for other opinions died and debate was supplanted by tribal loyalties where competitive arguments were only solved on the fields of combat. Here, we use the ballot box. The Romans, at first, absorbed other cultures making them Romans too including, later, the Barbarians (Germans, Celts, Huns) who really didn’t want to be Romans and worked to eventually undermine the Roman Republic. They too were absorbed until they turned on their protectors.

By comparison, today, many Americans, especially democrats, seemingly don’t want to be Americans any more and don’t want the rest of us to be Americans either. To bolster their positions, because America is bounded by two oceans, they import their own foreign barbarians (Islam) who definitely don’t want to be Americans and, are actually intent on introducing their own philosophy (Shariah Law) as Allah’s gifted principles for a happy existence for everyone.

In the end, the great Roman empire is now just Italy, a holiday destination. The former Greek empire of Alexander the Great, is now a bankrupt, motley little collection of islands immobilized at the hands German Bankers (the EU), the former barbarians of old, and Spain, once over run by Visigoths then Muslims, is barely hanging on to its own European identity.

Back then, issues were argued by oratory in public forums. Today, screaming barbarians disrupt Town Halls. The third actor in the play, the Mediocre Media has lost any pretense to objectivity and, by its own account, is attempting the realignment of the American mind along ideological lines it thinks we need to embrace, which includes the unlimited immigration that is bent on destroying our American democracy. They have altered the free flow of information and freedom of thought by believing it’s their responsibility to tell us what to think. They’re in a fight now!

Donald Trump promised he would drain the swamp of its corruption, I hope it includes the Mediocre Media. Trump, like the barbarians of old who lacking stealth were content to just bash in the helmets of anyone standing before them, is using his own weapons, like Tweets, to bash the Mediocre Media into submission. Ossified as they are, the MM will, in its turn, eventually succumb to the lessons of truth and learn its own lesson in objectivity. Only then can America become great again. We can’t, so long as the hounds are braying at our heels.

Remember, freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go get ‘em! (28 Feb 17)