[novakeo]

A very good symbolic first step might be to send the UN packing; it has become a symbol of anti-Americanism. It exudes racism, is corrupt to its core and is anti-Christian and anti-Semitic to boot - send it to Chernobyl where its red glow will then match its ideology.

I'm all for kicking out the UN...but wasn't Rome itself anti-christain, they did nail Christ to the cross and kill most of the Apostles. This guy is all wet, he want's us to be more like the Romans. Rome does not consult Babylon on matters of foreign policy, but it did consult with the corporate elites of that time, sort of like our government. Mayer does not mention the murders of those who wanted power, does not mention the mass murders conducted by the Roman army on the conqured. He also does not mention that absolute power corrupts absolutely and that the wonderful Julius Caesar was the first dictator of the equaly wonderful Roman Empire. Yup he's got it right, lets conguer the freaking world and make everyone alive the subjets of Britney Spears.

[johnqueuepublic]

You make a few good points but flub one also. Constantine and the last of the Roman emperors were Christians. In the final days only 1 out of 10 members of the army were Romans, the rest were foreign conscripts. I think that Gibbon's point was that the Romans got soft and were easy pickings for the brutal barbarians that descended on them.