Are We Rome?

Are We Rome?

Books of Our time host Lawrence R. Velvel of the Massachusetts School of Law interviews Cullen Murphy, editor at large for Vanity Fair magazine, about his new book Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America. Murphy discusses how the Roman Empire and the United States are similar and how they are different.

Murphy says that both societies demonstrate great arrogance. The Romans believed that they would win any war they engaged in. They believed the will of Rome was all that mattered and they saw the rest of the world as barbaric. The Romans demonstrated their arrogance when they marched into the Teutoburg Forest, expecting to dominate the Germanic tribes but instead had three legions defeated. The United States demonstrated a similar ignorance of the world’s thoughts and beliefs.  Americans assume all nations desire their democratic way of life. Such a belief led to the debacle in Viet Nam and again in Iraq. The Romans saw themselves as the center of the world, believing, as Murphy states, “all roads lead to Rome,â€? and they literally did. They believed Rome was the world’s umbilicus. The United States has developed the same belief as the center of the world with Washington D.C. as the new global navel.

Murphy believes Rome and the United States have failed to learn from past mistakes. The Romans believed they were an empire without end and did not look to the past for understanding. The United States has similarly failed to learn from its own history, becoming mired in a debacle in Viet Nam and blindly sacrifices troops and national treasure in Iraq.  The militaries of both societies grew larger and larger. No matter how big they became, they were too small to accomplish their goals, yet too large to maintain for long periods. The Roman army grew as they conquered new land and integrated the people of those lands into military service. Similarly, the United States currently has over 700 military bases throughout the world. And, as did the Romans, the United States has supplemented its military with private contracts. This trend has been replicated in other areas of government; public functions have been sold to private entities. 

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