Rome fell, will we also fall?

[Redfish]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2070 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

and to think that "The 47 Per-cent" actually believe the free money is forever. someday the checks will stop coming.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

Rome fell, will we also fall?

It has always been just a matter of time. Did you not read the Founders?

NUMBER: 1593
AUTHOR: Benjamin Franklin (1706–90)
QUOTATION: “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a Republic or a Monarchy?”

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

ATTRIBUTION: The response is attributed to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN—at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when queried as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation—in the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Maryland’s delegates to the Convention.

McHenry’s notes were first published in The American Historical Review, vol. 11, 1906, and the anecdote on p. 618 reads: “A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy. A republic replied the Doctor if you can keep it.” When McHenry’s notes were included in The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, ed. Max Farrand, vol. 3, appendix A, p. 85 (1911, reprinted 1934), a footnote stated that the date this anecdote was written is uncertain.
1593. Benjamin Franklin 1706-90 . Respectfully Quoted A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989

 

[Redfish]

and to think that "The 47 Per-cent" actually believe the free money is forever. someday the checks will stop coming.

yep, liberalism is the product of mental illness. Sadly, a large % of americans now suffer from it.

 

[westwall]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2070 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

Of course. It is the natural cycle of governmental systems to fall. The question is how bad is the fall going to be, and what will replace it?

 

[Disir]

Rome didn't fall.

Stop shipping the jobs over seas. Stop screwing people with the H1B visas.

 

[Roadrunner]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2070 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

We have learned nothing.

Note how, after 50 years of bread(foodstamps), and circuses(subsidized sports, tv, radio, etc), provided by the pols that promised domestic tranquillity to the middle class that elected them, we are rapidly losing both the middle class and the domestic tranquillity?

Once the shiftless vote themselves into the till, it is only a matter of time.

The tide has turned.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

and to think that "The 47 Per-cent" actually believe the free money is forever. someday the checks will stop coming.

yep, liberalism is the product of mental illness. Sadly, a large % of americans now suffer from it.

just u wait, but even now i wonder how many of us may sell our homes and lay low until we see what happens come 2017, i have no choice, i have to sell my home being i am in fear, and doubt i will ever see my SS.

 

[Redfish]

and to think that "The 47 Per-cent" actually believe the free money is forever. someday the checks will stop coming.

yep, liberalism is the product of mental illness. Sadly, a large % of americans now suffer from it.

just u wait, but even now i wonder how many of us may sell our homes and lay low until we see what happens come 2017, i have no choice, i have to sell my home being i am in fear, and doubt i will ever see my SS.

with a rack like that you don't need SS

 

[Yarddog]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2021 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

There hasnt been an empire in history that hasnt fallen, yeah we will fall. its like watching the same play with different costumes.its only a matter of time because basic human nature will never change i think . everything has to cycle, its the way of nature

 

[PaintMyHouse]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2070 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

We have learned nothing.

Note how, after 50 years of bread(foodstamps), and circuses(subsidized sports, tv, radio, etc), provided by the pols that promised domestic tranquillity to the middle class that elected them, we are rapidly losing both the middle class and the domestic tranquillity?

Once the shiftless vote themselves into the till, it is only a matter of time.

The tide has turned.

That has much more to do with capitalism's race to the bottom than anything else. Is the American public fat, dumb, and unhappy? Yep, but there are many factors in that. The fix for all of this is hard and smart work, something Americans are no longer willing to do because among other things, they wouldn't always get their way.

 

[Redfish]

I would like for all of my friends (and enemies) on the left to carefully read the Cicero quote in the OP.

He is talking about liberalism and the dangers it creates. Its not partisan its ideological. Read, think.

 

[Redfish]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2021 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

There hasnt been an empire in history that hasnt fallen, yeah we will fall. its like watching the same play with different costumes.its only a matter of time because basic human nature will never change i think . everything has to cycle, its the way of nature

Thats why I have several guns and lots of ammo. No one knows what will follow.

 

[Rexx Taylor]

and to think that "The 47 Per-cent" actually believe the free money is forever. someday the checks will stop coming.

yep, liberalism is the product of mental illness. Sadly, a large % of americans now suffer from it.

just u wait, but even now i wonder how many of us may sell our homes and lay low until we see what happens come 2017, i have no choice, i have to sell my home being i am in fear, and doubt i will ever see my SS.

with a rack like that you don't need SS

well sarah doesnt have to worry, but thank god i live in Naples, just hoping the real estate market stays in the black, i am doing whatever i have to do to make my condo worth 200K, sell it and buy a foreclosure in or near sarasota.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

I would like for all of my friends (and enemies) on the left to carefully read the Cicero quote in the OP.

He is talking about liberalism and the dangers it creates. Its not partisan its ideological. Read, think.

Junk quote:

"Apparently, this quote was made up back in the 80s and attributed to Cicero. I removed it as such. I couldn't find any direct link to the Roman ever saying this. See link for more details: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.quotations/browse_thread/thread/d0c75b3069548f17?tvc=2

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."
Talk Cicero - Wikiquote

And doesn't sound like him anyway:
With original Latin

• Respublica est consensus iuris et communio utilitatis
  • The Republic is a common law and the common good

• Appetitus Rationi Pareat
  • Let your desires be ruled by reason.

• Omnium rerum principia parva sunt.
  • The beginnings of all things are small.

• Si vis doceri, doce
  • If you want to learn, teach

• Suum Cuique.
  • To each his own.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

America, the Republic, has already fallen.
It happened while we slept.
Today, America is somewhere between a plutocracy, oligarchy or even a kleptocracy....more accurately - a corporatocracy.
We are certainly no longer a Republic. A Republic is where power rest in the hands of a few elected officials who represents those that voted for them.
That is certainly not the case. There is next to no one in Washington who represents the interest of ordinary citizens.
The Title of the OP should have been "When did America Fall".

 

[Meathead]

The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC), 55 BC

have we learned nothing in 2070 years? have we learned nothing from history? Sadly, the answer seems to be yes, we have learned nothing.

"We" are no longer the people who made America great. "We" have turned into a government-reliant people who expect everything at the sacrifice of nothing.

 

[Mac1958]

Of course. It is the natural cycle of governmental systems to fall. The question is how bad is the fall going to be, and what will replace it?

Yep.

It's a shame, though. A self-inflicted wound. We were too successful, we became too fat and happy, we became narcissistic & entitled, and our culture decayed.

The "selfie" became the symbol of the beginning of our downfall. Pride before the fall.

We'll see what's next.

.

 

[occupied]

We will not fall because there is no place to fall to. If America goes down in some way it will only be because the rest of the world is already in ashes. People like to compare us to ancient Rome and predict a great fall but that is impossible in an interconnected global society such as ours. In our case the entire world is Rome and there are no barbarians at the gates.

 

[Redfish]

y

We will not fall because there is no place to fall to. If America goes down in some way it will only be because the rest of the world is already in ashes. People like to compare us to ancient Rome and predict a great fall but that is impossible in an interconnected global society such as ours. In our case the entire world is Rome and there are no barbarians at the gates.

Oh, there are barbarians at the gate for sure, they are called radical islamists, and our foolish govt is looking the other way as they cross our southern border by the thousands.