[blackdog]

" The number of ministers, of magistrates, of officers, and of servants, who filled the different departments of the state, was mul­tiplied beyond the example of for­mer times; and (if we may bor­row the warm expression of a con­temporary) ‘when the proportion of those who received exceeded the proportion of those who con­tributed the provinces were op­pressed by the weight of tributes.’ From this period to the extinction of the empire it would be easy to deduce an uninterrupted series of clamors and complaints. Accord­ing to his religion and situation, each writer chooses either Diocle­tian or Constantine or Valens or Theodosius, for the object of his invectives; but they unanimously agree in representing the burden of the public impositions, and......par"

I think we can recognize this stage.

[Buttons12]

There appears to be a natural lifespan for a country, a nation, a form of government. The most stable of them, the most fortunate, eventually go sclerotic and bureaucracy is often found in them. (With due regard for the post hoc argument.)
Mandarins, bureaucrats, officialdom, and so forth — the Church has suffered with them, and China, and Rome, and Egypt...a nation loses its vigor and whatever immune system it had originally is overwhelmed. Same thing often happens in businesses.
There are a few books on the subject, none I can recommend, but it’s definitely a real thing, and the only historical cure that is certain is flames and ashes, out of which a seed may emerge. Or not.

[Orosius]

Those who do not learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them.

[PGR88]

Private initiative disappeared; more and more the all-powerful imperial government was expected to look after everyone and attend to everything.

The only question for the USA is how long it takes, and who will ultimately be able to knock us off our bloated throne of debt

[MeganC]

“As of September 2023, there were 2.95 million employees in the US federal workforce.”

“The BLS identifies approximately 20.0 million employees of state and local government as of December 2023.”

“The United States is also the world’s third largest army in terms of manpower, with about 1.4 million active military personnel in 2022.”

“How many teachers were there in the United States in recent years? In school year 2021–22, there were 3.2 million full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in public schools (source). In 2019–20, there were 0.5 million FTE teachers in private schools (source).”

We have roughly twenty-eight million government employees in the USA.

That’s about ten times the population of the USA in 1776.

We are choking ourselves to death with the bureaucratic state.

[Chuckster]

.

[alternatives?]

Note that this is from 1963. I wonder what the author would write today.

I picked up a new word. Nugatory. Describes the judicial system today.

[Firehath]

Blm - dnc - diversity - affirmative action

Explains everything

Gog usa

Magog nato

Rev 13

[Carriage Hill]

There are some very stark and uneasy parallels to our America.