Every now and then you run across something so astonishing that you just have to share. This is one of those moments. Here's an AMAZING 24-page research essay that's an extremely briefer comparison to Gibbon's multi-volume Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, yet much more expansive in world historical terms, and should certainly serve as a warning shot over the bow (or perhaps I should say stern) of our own ship's misguidance...
JourneyOfTheMind: The Fate of Empires is a brief essay laying out the life cycle of an empire. An empire is defined as a super power of their time. He brings examples ranging from Persia, Ancient China, to the Ottoman Empire. In fact, all of his evidence is from eras other than our own era, which makes sense when writing something like this. This read is a basic read, and should be taught to everyone.
The average lifespan of an empire is 250 years. The life cycle of an empire is broken down into six ages. They are:
The Age of Pioneers
The Age of Conquest
The Age of Commerce
The Age of Affluence
The Age of Intellectualism
The Age of Decadence
YouTuber The Immortal presented a great review of the paper back in February of this year:
A review of Sir John Glubb's The Fate of Empires: Search For Survival. A historical examination of the lifespan of nation states and the markers of growth and decline.
Glenn Beck also had a stimulating discussion on Glubb's paper during Thursday's program @ 1:01:00 (among other interesting topics before & after):
This is a guy who's written a lot of really fascinating stuff on history, and what he decided to do was look at all of the empires that have risen and fallen and then look at the cycle of each empire to see if there's anything you can learn. So he went Persia, ancient China, the Ottoman Empire, he went the Roman Empire, Greece, everything. And he looked at all of them and said, 'Ok, so what do they have in common?' The one thing they all have in common, they lasted anywhere from 200 to 250 years. All of them collapsed within 50 years of each other. ... You look at this, and what he found is that there is ten generations that live in every empire. And you can cut these generations and the span of an empire up into six different categories... Now tell me that this doesn't fit us...
Now, as to avoid misleading, this isn't an observation on completely ceasing to exist. Yes, several of these falls do result in utter collapse and erasure. More interestingly though, in several cases, Greece, Spain, Russia, England, even Italy (Rome), remnant, centralized civilizations persist, but are forever fundamentally transformed in not only their sphere of influence and innovation or vast scope of exuberance and reach, but also in their inherent culture and their people. Arguably, many still struggle to maintain a national identity with newer cycles of Glubb's stages continuing to roll over them. Perhaps it is the fundamental transformation that gives pause to the most immediate consideration in correlation to our own nation's future. And like Rome and others, it's not just about the powers that be, but the people within that give way to internal demise and external strife...
JotM: The age of decadence is the decay of the empire. It is characterized by defensive minded militaries, decaying morals, loss of religion, frivolous consumption of food, entertainment, sex, and the complete focus of individual interests. When things tend to get rough, it would be thought that the people would work together to fix the problems, but instead there are schisms in the society that make the resolution of dire problems impossible. With everyone thinking about themselves, they lack the self-sacrifice and courage needed to defend themselves from collapse internally or from the next age of pioneers.
It is pretty obvious that The United States, the world’s super power, is in the last and final stage, the age of decadence. When just looking at our practices, it becomes clear that our morals have completely collapsed... When debating politics, people constantly look at how their interests are affected rather than taking into account the needs of other people. Sex is the main theme or method of selling products or services... We consume frivolously on drugs, food (obesity), sex, and entertainment. We worship celebrities rather than a God or religion. This all points to a society that is on a verge of collapse.
What would most likely get me the most accolades from my conservative friends is to write a blog piece criticizing this week’s Democratic National Convention. After all, we are routinely told by pseudo-conservatives that we all need to rally behind the Republican Nominee, unify the party, and defeat Hillary Clinton in November. She is the personification of all evil, as the new Dinesh D’Souza movie Hillary’s America appropriately and accurately argues. However, the Democrats and their predictably outrageous behavior this week is not the real story here. The Democrats kicked conservatism (and authentic Christianity for that matter) out of their party a long time ago. Criticizing the Democratic Party is too easy of a target. Finding a conservative Democrat today, such as the late Robert Casey or Zel Miller, is like trying to find an animal on the endangered species list. However, the real story here, for anybody who actually desires to see the evidence, is how the Republican Party, at least at the national level, is now also going very clearly in the direction of the Democratic Party in terms of purging and ostracizing conservatism from its ranks. ...
Ted Cruz is but a mere vessel for the ideas of limited government espoused by America’s founders. On today’s political scene, he is one of the few in public service who actually believes in these principles. In so doing, he represents those of us who also embrace these principles. Thus, any attack on Cruz for his beliefs represents an attack on the rest of us who also embrace these same ideals and principles. In other words, how the Republican Party treated Ted Cruz last week represents the actual revulsion, hostility, and disdain that the Republican Party establishment has towards true grass roots conservatives within its own base and ranks. Part of the agenda is to trample Cruz so vehemently that he and his limited government agenda will not be a threat to the party establishment in 2020. Welcome to the new Republican Party. Like what the Democratic Party accomplished long ago, the Republican Party is now in the process of purging all vestiges of true conservatism from its very own ranks. With one party already gone, the other is now in the very same process of closing itself off to any conservative influence. The bottom line: true conservatives will soon have no place to call home. This is what the Trump takeover of the Republican Party really represents.
What I have said thus far is not even the worst part about it. The worse part about all of this is the new political correctness that some “conservatives” are now imposing upon their own members. Rather than calling a spade a spade and exposing this hostile takeover for what it is, many within the conservative movement that once stood on principle are busy bullying and silencing anyone who dares to say that the king is naked. Because the goal of defeating Hillary Clinton in November has become the central rallying cry, anyone who points out the self-evident deficiencies of Trump and the current trajectory of the Republican Party is deemed as deliberately weakening the Republican Party and consequently being pro-Hillary. “You don’t want to elect Hillary do you?” has become the common response. In other words, “shut up, move along, and fall into line.” If you do not, Hillary Clinton will become the next President of the United States. For example, here is what one of my Face Book “friends” posted on my page after I posted something recently critical of Trump: “Feed and tend sheep and lambs. Jeremiah 22:10. God executed His purposes so stop whining…” I could furnish numerous other similar examples of such “conservative” self-policing.
Such self-censorship is tragic since it involves an abandonment of the very principles conservatives say that they stand for. In other words, conservative and Christian principles matter so long as you do not apply them to our own nominee. There are innumerable people I know that have spent the bulk of their lives and ministries articulating valid principles, only to demonize others who apply these very same principles to Trump and the new Republican Party. The conservative movement has certainly now reached a new and epic low as it finds itself turning upon and devouring its very own. We often legitimately decry political correctness in academia and politics. Sadly a new form of political correctness has entered the ranks of the conservative movement. That new political correctness entails the overt and subtle pressure to never criticize Trump and his party.
The way out of our immoral ditch is not to have two Democratic parties. Since the majority of those registered are already Democrats, if the public perceives the same message coming from both parties, they will just vote for the party that they are already affiliated with, and the Democratic Party will continue to win big time. The Republicans win and win in a huge way when they are able to articulate clear differences between the two parties. The conservative message still sells as evidenced by the sweeping Republican victories at the Presidential or Congressional level in 1980, 1984, 1988, 1994, 2000, 2004, 2010, and 2014. Let’s not go the way of the Whigs. Let’s resist the current self-censorship and instead continue to point out the wrong headed direction of the current Republican Party establishment. Hopefully, this process will return the Republican Party to its foundation and also its winning ways. If it does, then the future looks bright. If it does not, we should get used to the encroaching socialism and cultural Marxism that we see all around us because that will be our future.
God knows we don't need two Democratic Parties! But this certainly seems as if that's precisely what's occurring. It's my personal feeling that the Republican Party has already chosen the path of the Whigs. The threshold has been crossed. The party bosses continue to vehemently reject conservatism. I think instead of embracing this 'new' Republican political correctness, we should not only continue pointing it out at every turn, but genuine conservatives need to take action NOW and turn towards a New Conservative-Republican Party. Will it win the election at this point. No. But it seems as though the Republican Party has thoroughly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. So, at this late date, conservatives have got to start thinking long term. We must start anew to get there...and that need not wait on any election. #PrincipleMattersFirst
