Could we, today, same them back then?

Are we Rome?  Not exactly.  But we are cut from the same cloth . . .

A struggle for objectivity, a God’s-eye view.  We look at the past and think of ways to intervene, if given the chance.  To go back to ancient Rome and tell a leader here or there at different times in the republic or empire’s span ways to save the empire – yes, perhaps point out ways to remain a republic.  What exactly would we say and to who?

How to avoid the weight of history?  Was the empire doomed once it was on a certain track?  Inertia?  What have we learned that can aid us in escaping from the gravity of human nature?  How can greed be parsed out from the overall package of human nature that includes other (vices?) such as the inability to think ahead more than a few years?  We cannot help but compare ourselves with (against) our neighbors.  Someone in the US may be in the lowest financial quintile but globally be in the top quintile – but that doesn’t matter when you compare yourself to the “haves” here.  You can’t help but do it, it is human nature.

Are we Rome?  Cullen Murphy takes on this question.  Of course many factors are different.  But in these different situations we are all human, nonetheless.