U.S.: Can learn from ancient Rome

The President and Congress should review “Edward Gibbon — The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” The political structure of the United States is patterned after Rome.

The ancient Roman Empire was founded in 753 B.C. and by 275 B.C. ruled a vast territory. Each of the many regions looked to Rome for support and requests for political favors were common. The decay of individual responsibility and military readiness tore the fabric of the empire. Taxes were not covering expenses in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries A.D., and hordes of Goth, Vandal, and Hun barbarians overran the Asian, African and north provinces of the once powerful empire.

Pressured by Goth forces, and trying to sustain the diminished realm, Roman emperor Constantine moved the capital from Rome to Turkey in A.D. 330. He established the Byzantine Empire, in what is now Istanbul and renamed the city Constantinople. The Vandals and Huns assault continued but remnants of the Roman Empire continued for another century. Heraclius attempted to deliver the empire to its previous glory and pressed south and captured much of Assyria putting that area under control of the Romans.

“Although a victorious army had been formed ... the effort appears to have exhausted rather than exercised their strength. While the emperor triumphed at Constantinople or Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of Syria was pillaged by the Saracens, and they cut in pieces some troops who advanced to its relief, an ordinary and trifling occurrence, had it not been the prelude of a mighty revolution. These robbers were the apostles of Mahomet; their fanatic valor had emerged from the desert; and in the last eight years of his reign, Heraclius lost to the Arabs the same provinces which it had rescued from the Persians.” (Gibbon Vol. I, 46, p. 486)

The ISIS movement in Syria and Iraq seems to be a new Saracen type aggressor determined to overthrow Iraq and establish a base to attack our, or similar thinking, nations. We should not become complacent and satisfied with the status quo. History has shown that the most radical, ruthless, barbarians overrun the nations that view their status as assured and permanent.

LEONARD BRANT

Post Falls