Fascinating, in an 'Oh, crap!' kind of way

Over at Crunchy Con, Rod Dreher has been doing some reading and has some thoughts on the whole question of "are we Rome?"

The conclusion -- of Dreher and the book, which happens to be Cullen Murphy's Are We Rome? -- seems to be probably. Definitely probably.

The Romans were supremely arrogant, and thought that the world was as they thought it was -- and when it wasn't, they could create reality. Murphy says that attitude clearly informs the US now: "Across the board it fosters the conviction that assertions of will can trump assessments of reality: the world is the way we say it is."

Similarly, the Romans were so impressed by themselves that they not only didn't care what other peoples thought, they didn't think they had much to learn from other peoples. This attitude led the Romans to discount important information. And, when wedded to Rome's sense of having a divinely appointed mission to conquer and civilize the world, Rome tended to see information contrary to its wishes and desires as not only wrong (if it saw the information at all), but as somehow malign.

Yet like us, Rome saw it as possible for all people to become Roman, because it is entirely natural for people, if they understood that their best interests and their own perfected nature, led toward Roman-ness.

This has all kinds of parallels to contemporary America. Murphy: "Human nature, in other words, is basically American. This may be a comforting sentiment, but it can end up enabling just as much ignorance as arrogance or disdain does." This is especially true if your understanding of the American character is warped by sentimentality and idealism -- that is, if you discount the struggles we've had with the better angels of our nature.

(snip)

The Roman government became besotted with patronage, bribery and featherbedding -- a practice that Murphy sees replicated in our political system being awash in campaign contributions buying access and favors. Indeed, here in Istanbul I was talking to a US scholar who has been involved with policymaking circles in Washington. He gave me a couple of examples of cases in which the taxpayer has been fleeced, and US national interests undermined, by the interaction of government with private business, for the sake of enriching business and political friends. If this gets out of hand, says Murphy, you have the fall of Rome.

In the end, Murphy says that we can avoid the fate of Rome through a conscious and determined program of reform, and the reclamation of Republican virtue. We are not fated to end up like Rome. The power to determine our fate rests largely with us Americans. But the signs don't look good.

INTERESTINGLY, Murphy has a Q&A about his book on its promotional website:

Is there a smart way ahead? Can we avoid decline?

We can’t control every variable, shouldn’t even try. The future is a mysterious place. Instead, it makes sense to focus on a handful of big factors that are within our control—and that will contribute to social strength no matter what the future brings. What are some of those things?

For starters, instill an appreciation of the wider world. To drive home the idea that “we are not alone” there is no substitute for fluency in another language. Every educated person in the Roman Empire spoke two languages. So did the strivers among the immigrants. In a globalizing world, Americans need to be like the Romans—and, frankly, like the barbarians.

Second, stop treating government as a necessary evil, and stop selling it off to private interests. Government can be held accountable in ways that the private sector can’t, and government programs—Social Security, student loans, safe food and drugs—promote a sense of common alliance and mutual obligation. Lose these things, and you’ll never get them back.

Third, fortify the institutions that promote assimilation: free schools, free clinics, and a program of national service. We can’t change the way the world works, can’t stop people from wanting to come to America. Our powerfully absorptive domestic culture will turn them into Americans soon enough, if we let it. But we have to bolster the engines of assimilation, not undermine them.

Finally, take some weight off the military. Like Rome, America is caught in a vise: the military is too big to sustain and too small to do everything we ask. Adopting a long-range energy policy—something we ought to do anyway—would at least let America pull away from military oversight of the Middle East. This may be a hundred year project, but a society with pretensions to staying power thinks in those terms. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

But you’re saying this won’t prevent “decline”?

One person’s “decline” is another’s “rise.” America as we know it will melt into history no matter what we do. The important question is: will the world that ensues be better? Whatever comes to pass, the sheer fact of America will weigh on the world for millennia. Like Rome, America is in some ways indistinguishable. The whole planet may someday speak Chinese, but people will probably still be saying “OK.” What we can’t know is which characteristics will be extinguished and which ones won’t. I hope it will be our egalitarianism, our entrepreneurship, and our exuberant impulse to associate in civic groups—and not our hyper-individualism and our moralizing messianic streak.

Here’s the point: the outcome is partly in our own hands. The outcome depends on how we act today.