Is this our Mission?

Just mouthing off . . .

Rome ~

During Rome’s first 600 years, right up to the time of Caesar and the birth of Christ, it was a genuine democratic republic. While legend attributes its founding to Romulus and Remus, Virgil claims that Aeneas of Troy played a significant part in its early years. The Roman republic was generally well governed by elected officials. It grew until it eventually occupied all of the Italian peninsula and neighboring lands. Following the assassination of Caesar, Rome became an empire. Through conquest and assimilation, it eventually embraced most of Europe, Greece, northern Africa and Asia Minor. Not until the 4th century A.D. did it finally undergo dissolution. The vacuum in its wake was filled by Christianity and the Holy Roman Empire.

Though Rome’s legions were militarily invincible, the empire’s growth derived from its cultural diversity and its energetic economy. It absorbed the civilization of Greece and amalgamated it with its own indigenous learning and experience. It did much the same with every region it overcame. Religiously tolerant, Rome developed a high degree of social order. While insurrections did erupt, they were quickly quelled. But peace generally prevailed everywhere. Conquered people were eager to become citizens of Rome. Much that we favor and even extol today, in our modern civilization, has its roots in Roman history. In an ironic twist of fate, the name of the last official emperor of Rome was Romulus Augustulus.

America ~
America is about 200 years old, but not until the turn of the 20th century did it become a major player on the world’s stage. The America(s) were "discovered" after Islam had spread to many parts of Europe. Indeed, maritime exploration was Europe’s effort to break out of its Islamic constraints. With the discovery of the New World, Europe prospered. It received added impetus from the Renaissance. But warfare on that continent remained pandemic. It took two major military interventions by America to break that cycle. By 1950, the U.S. brought democracy to Japan and then to S Korea. But it failed in Vietnam. Then after it engineered the downfall of communist Russia, America became the only Superpower of the world.

Squalor, poverty, disease and genocide, exist side by side with growth, wealth and prosperity on this planet. And now there is terrorism, havoc and devastation. Evidently, Islam is inclined to believe it has long been the prey of "crusading" colonialists and Zionists. Unable to compete on Western terms, it is now disposed to reduce the West to ashes. It has initiated a jihad against its "oppressors." At the same time, America appears to be persuading itself that because it is the strongest military and economic force in the world, it has the mandated "imperial" right and "duty" to be benevolently despotic. Coveting no territory, it seeks, perhaps quixotically, to inculcate and maintain peace, freedom and democracy everywhere.

= What do you think? Should America bring all of its foreign based troops home? Should it ignore the jihad and simply mind its own business? Should we provide all of our war prisoners with plush surroundings, gourmet food, around the clock legal services and uninterrupted access to our courts? Should their telephones be unmonitored? To cocoon ourselves more securely, should we erect fences to keep those who are out, out and those who are in, in? Be reminded, there are only 800 years left, to decide whether or not we want to emulate Rome!

Those "fasces" on both sides of the illustration are Roman symbols of magisterial authority. They are on the Seal of the United States Senate and they are mounted on the wall of the House of Representatives, flanking both sides of the Speaker’s platform.