The New Roman Republic?

By Adel – PeaceMaker

December 5, 2009

The framers of the American constitution loved the Romans. They built their government buildings to look Roman. They named the principle lawmaking body "the Senate" after the Romans. They chose the eagle as their national symbol. They even called their new system of government a republic, using a Roman word instead of an English word like commonwealth or a Greek word like democracy. Why if Thomas Jefferson could hear us calling America The New Roman Republic, he would dance a happy dance and hug anyone who made the comparison.

The American Republic established in 1776, like the Roman Republic which was established around 509 BC (probably be more of a military dictatorship today), is trying to conquer everything in sight or install puppet regimes in exchange for military support. By way of comparison, the diplomatic communities of today counts Pakistan, South Vietnam, Kuwait and South Korea (some guilty of terrorism, war crimes, human rights abuses) as independent countries, but they only exist because the United States keeps troops planted there.

The present wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven that the military might of the United States vastly overshadows anything else the world has to offer. Not only can the Americans clobber other countries, but they can do so with an almost trivial sacrifice in lives. American soldiers face more risk from friendly fire and accidents than they do from opposing forces.

American hegemony will remain unbroken for the next generation or two. There will be setbacks here and there, like the Iranian Hostage Crises, Mogadishu or Lebanon, where a sudden upturn in the body count makes the US reconsider the wisdom of getting involved overseas, mere insults to national dignity rather than defeats.

Generally, the Roman and American fought wars roughly paralleled to each other. The partial list that follows is an example of this analogy:

298-290 BC

Third Samnite War: The Samnites were last major native opponents of the Romans in Italy.

1803-1853

Trans-Mississippi West: The US expands west to the Pacific Ocean and south to the Gulf of Mexico at the expense of the Indian Tribes and Mexico.

280-275 BC

Pyrrhic War: First Roman war against a non-Italian army.

1898

Spanish-American War: First overseas war of conquest by the US.

264-241 BC

First Punic War: First acquisition of overseas territories (Sicily, Sardinia).

1914-1918

First World War (WWI): One of the largest wars in history. More than 15 million people were killed, making it one of the deadliest conflicts in history.

218-201 BC

Second Punic War: The invasion of Italy.

1939-1945

Second World War (WWII): The most widespread war in history. Over 70 million people, the majority civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

200-197 BC

Second Macedonian War: Marked a significant stage in increasing Roman intervention in the affairs of the eastern Mediterranean.

1945-1991

The Cold War & the USSR break-up: The continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after WWII (1939–1945), primarily between the USSR and its satellite states (the USSR collapse into independent nations began in 1985), and the powers of the Western world, including the United States.

191 BC

Battle of Thermopylae: Was a major battle of the Second Punic War.

2001-Stil Ongoing

September 11 attacks (9/11): The US responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terrorism, invading Iraq & Afghanistan, and enacting the Patriot Act.

"Rome finally fell after about a thousand years"

In England, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return." -- Widely circulated e-mail.

Modern historians tend to shy away from passing moral judgments on the past, the wholesale destruction of Iraq will be considered to be the point at which the United States went bad.