FLAVIUS AETIUS: THE LAST ROMAN

In the last days of the Western Roman Empire, the commander-in-chief of the Roman Army in the West, Flavius Aetius, struggled to hold the Western Empire in place. The days of Aetius are similar to ours. Things seem to be slowly coming apart. The government is suffering with huge deficits each year and a massive overhang of debt. The middle class jobs that paid for all the government both the left and right demanded are disappearing, going overseas to China. This is happening as the Baby Boomers are about ready to pile on Social Security and Medicare in massive numbers. None of it adds up. Like the Western Roman Empire, we are losing revenues. The financial system of the entire world is threatened with dissolution and there is growing evidence that this was anticipated by our authorities who are busily planning to suppress civil unrest at the expense of the Constitution. To some of my favorite posters who warned of just such a possibility, especially those from the "Class of 1998," all I can say is it was an honor to try to hold the line with you here, at least in trying to sound the warning that neither major party was offering any solution to this crisis. Among those I will remember best: Betty Boop, Alamo Girl, Askel5, LS John, OKCSubmariner, TPaine, Daus, Hepperla, Stingray, Boyd, and Patriot76.

A POST OF MINE FROM 2003 PREDICTING CATASTROPHE Once again, I will explain how this game works: Put a Democrat in office and he runs the ball as far to the left as rapidly as he dares. When the public becomes alarmed at how things get screwed up by the government programs, in comes a Republican. The Republican continues moves to the left, but uses different rhetoric to justify it. The movement to the left is not as big as what a Democrat would take, but it keeps everything moving left. The Democrats, in response to the leftward movement of the Republicans, MOVE FURTHER LEFT, in order to outbid the Republicans for the support of their base. The Democrat base is ecstatic, as they win something no matter which party gets in, so, THEY VOTE DEMOCRAT, as they can get more from the (perpetually) more leftist party in the running. The "brilliant strategy" never pays off as advertised by the GOP and their supporters, except that the country keeps moving further and further left, with so-called conservatives, who are really more Republicans, split off from the conservatives, creating splintered opposition to leftist policies, while those on the left remain united in their goals. It's going over the cliff now. There is no stopping it. We had a chance in 1994, but that was only the slight opening of a pressure-release valve to enable Clinton to find a way to maintain his Presidency into a second term. After two terms of Clinton, Republicans would be satisfied with Satan in the White House if he had an "R" after his name. There is no stopping some sort of traumatic disaster or a total crack-up now. There's too much cognitive dissonance out there, but at least this move has eliminated some of that.