America Is Not The New Rome
By: Cody Trusler
Tags: Culture, Society, World, Philosophy, History

Now that isn’t to say asking questions like this are not necessary. Proposals that I think are useful entertain an idea of helping fix an issue at hand. A question that I think fits this description is, “How does America prevent suffering the same fate as Rome?”

I think this question opens the use of history, rather than making a downright comparison. It creates a thought about how there is a problem and how history can help solve it. The idea of becoming like something is more useful to the topic. No country will end up like an entity of history simply because of similarities.

Now, of course, America could end up in a civil conflict. America could devolve into civil war, but I doubt that a dynasty becomes established. Now a real possibility is that a civil conflict breaks out.

Though a civil conflict is unlikely, let us explore how asking this question helps solve the issue. What led to many of the civil battles of ancient Rome, and how were they resolved? Well, that’s a very complex question that requires many years of schooling to understand. Lucky for you, I have that schooling. As for what I know, there were many reasons Romans went to war with one another. Among them were taxes, citizen’s rights, not being Roman, disbelief of the same gods. When we look at the Roman civil conflict, it is by no means a simple subject. One side, or both, did not listen to the other. Or they would not have been fighting with one another. This lead to more than just civil conflict; this lead to the collapse of the Roman system. Infighting gives no room for understanding the opposition. Rome was fighting itself and everyone that came into contact with them. How could they hold their empire if they refused to consider what that infighting was doing?

Now, this is the Roman side of that question. How can we use that to answer the question? Well, we have to get specific. Using all of Roman history does not help. For example, a useful comparison would be a comparison of the civil disorder of 1960s America and the political unrest of the Late Roman Republic. You can postulate these ideas as to how the systems differed. The civil unrest that led to the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert Kennedy is like the civil unrest that led to the deaths of the Gracchi brothers.

However, the significant difference is how these assassinations happened. Racism was a leading factor in two of the Americans mentioned. King and R. Kennedy were killed because of racial beliefs held by the perpetrators. This would not make sense to the Romans, nor can a comparison be made. Rome would not have understood race the same way that we do. As for the Gracchi brothers, they were land reformers, not civil rights advocates. Tiberius the Younger wanted land for troops. Tiberius stood behind the people, he was a populist, and the senate wished to him dead. When the senate got their wish, it led to acts of civil violence in Rome that lasted until the republic abolished. All because of the mistrust of the Gracchi.

This did not happen in America, and most likely will not, but what we can take away is the importance of changing tides. Though it may not seem similar, the way news stations act is similar to the story of the deaths of the Gracchi. After one incident, a flood of more incidents flurried through. In 2016, President Trump started calling media stations “Fake News.” it led to many other networks tossing similar insults. Fox News and MSNBC attack each other over social ideas, and it seems no end is in sight almost four years later. This is like the story of the Gracchi because partisan attacks are what led to their civil discord, similar to the way that media stations fight on TV.

So asking a question like “How does America prevent suffering the same fate as Rome?” is a useful hypothetical question to ask. Of course, the fighting between news stations will likely not lead to conflict.