Panem et Circenses

Guest Post by Loki

(Bread and Circuses, so you don’t have to run to your Latin dictionaries)

The Roman leaders kept the people entertained while making sure they had bread and circuses. In other words they diverted the attention of the populace of the disastrous state of the nation while making sure the people were fed and entertained. Meanwhile the country went bankrupt and lost its identity. It was so infused with foreigners that there was no desire to fight for the people that had lost its national identity. It was everyone for themselves. And the Roman Empire was broke and spread too thin to protect itself. The people were united in greed alone.

After the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare I wonder if this nation is not in the same position. Keep the people fed with subsidized food and medicine. Promise more trinkets. Keep them entertained with movies, booze and illegal drugs. All the while the nation’s economy is falling in to an abyss and we have jumped onto a jet flight to reach the bottom.

This country is fractionized with labels. If you are American today you are a white racist. Otherwise your nation of origin is listed before your being a citizen of America. You are an Afro-American, Latin-American or Asian-American. We have lost our group identity as each group fights for itself. Just like the Japanese had thought at the start of WWII. They could not imagine a diverse group fighting for a single nation. And today we have met that Japanese notion. It is everyone for themselves. Get what you can. The government owes me and needs to take it from someone else. I don’t care what the other guy pays as long as I’m not taxed. We argue over fairness. We are not a united nation. We are a nation of diversity.

When did the Roman citizens realize their country was lost? It must have been gradual, maybe even decades. I am sure that everyone did not wake up and say the country is lost. It was a slow process. And at some point the nation could have been saved… but it was not. I now wonder if we have also reached that tipping point. Are we close or have we already gone over the tipping point. Recent studies have suggested that we are more fractionized then we were at the Civil War. Our nation is near bankruptcy and yet still our leaders keep trying to divert our attention with trinkets while we fight over the crumbs of bread the government doles out.

Meanwhile Russia laughs at our president and sees him as the amateur statesman. China builds its nation for war. And many smaller nations prepare for joining the nuclear brotherhood of destruction. Europe collapses in socialism while American liberals rush this nation into socialism while abandoning capitalism.

I hope we have not reached the tipping point. I hope we can correct the direction of this country in the next election and that we are not too late. But in the meanwhile I am preparing for the Visigoths.

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