Posted on 04/17/2023 1:54:25 AM PDT by spirited irish
Instead of earning money through their accustomed nonstop trade, they inflated their currency and were forced to melt down the city’s inherited gold and silver fixtures.
The once canny and shrewd Byzantines grew smug and naïve. Childlessness became common. Most now preferred to live outside of what had become a half-empty, often dirty, and poorly maintained city.
Meanwhile they underestimated the growing power of the Ottomans who systematically pruned away their empire. By the mid-15th century Islamic armies were ready to exploit fatal Byzantine weaknesses.
(Excerpt) Read more at patriotandliberty.com ...
The Eastern Romans remained an empire from 476 to 1453 - not too bad
If our nation continues to turn our back on the ONE true God of creation, indeed it will happen. May God have mercy on us.
Bkmk
America’s founding principles and its Constitution are powerless to save such a depraved and fallen populace. That’s what John Adams meant when he said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” When “progressives” started sneering and laughing at “Beaver Cleaver white bread 1950s America”, and declaring that “we must not go backward to such times”, the die of our demise was cast. Ladle on top of the ensuing “progressive” self-worship and moral degradation a large serving of outright hatred for America and exalting instead of primitive, tribal subcultures and everything got infinitely worse.
This is most certainly the time that the Bible speaks of when it predicts the rise of a people who “believing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” We’re awash in arrogant “educated” idiots who believe truly insane things, such as that men can become women and vice-versa. They care only about themselves and that selfishness has blinded them to truth and morality.
The only way out of this sorry state is a complete rejection of modern “thinking” and “morals” and a return to truth, logic, common sense, and real morality. But that would take admission that today’s culture is wrong in every way, acknowledgement and repentance for sin, and a national 180 back toward humility and submission to God. Some of us have always been there, and if (when) things get bad enough a few more will join us, but the rest are sadly unlikely to ever admit the depth of their error and depravity. Their pride is more important to them than anything else, and they’ll destroy our country in its name.
Agreed and well stated.
We also used to have a single unifying American culture …
I don’t have a clue what this “single unifying American culture” is, and I seriously doubt we ever really had one — at least after the early 1790s.
Hear Hear. Well Said.
Your unvarnished summary of where we are as a nation - is spot on! Sadly, I can think of only one example in scripture where an evil people and government repented. That would be the story of Jonah and the Ninevites.
Christians - continue to do this for our nation and our posterity:
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." - 2 Chronicles 7:14
Last week Hanson wrote a column comparing conditions to the French Revolution. The point is we should know better than indulging in the self destructive behavior that’s causing our demise, but the only lesson history teaches us is that we never learn any lessons from history.
I don’t see civilizations historically, that are on their way out, change direction.
They all fail in time.
What I do remember is after 9-11 when for a brief period churches filled and Congress sang “God bless America” while standing on the steps. Why? Fear. Once everything was explained and we went back to business as usual that stopped.
Disaster makes people feel out of control, and then many look to a higher power for help.
“the most complex and formidable city fortifications in the world”
Those walls worked for a very long time.
“Once everything was explained and we went back to business as usual that stopped.”
Excellent observation.
There’s no real comparison between the Byzantines and America as far as our geopolitical situation. The Byzantines were a fragmentary state with an insecure geographical position to begin with. So when they suffered other problems, such as economic or demographic decline, there was nothing to stop them from being overwhelmed.
At least in our case, we are still just about 100% secure from any real invading force. I know everyone talks about the Mexicans as “invaders”, but they have no capacity to harm us militarily, and if they ever decided to act as a staging ground for enemies that could, we could eliminate that threat with the push of a button. And there is still no nation on the planet that could launch a successful naval invasion of the USA. If we collapse, we need to worry about internal conflicts, not an external invasion.
True, very true. We fall not to foreign armies but foreign ideas, our own greedy upper classes who no longer see themselves as Americans but “Citizens of the World” a new sort of human being, a superior breed—an educated aristocracy destined by their philosophy and breeding to rule the unwashed lower classes, The deplorable lower intelligence rabble. The masses swayed by treacherous class member Donald Trump —who betrayed, mysteriously, his own kind due to madness. He sides with workers and peasants, how despicable! The fool really believes that foolishness about people really being equal! He must be insane.
“I don’t see civilizations historically, that are on their way out, change direction.
They all fail in time.”
I agree. Though, usually it takes defeat in a war or revolution to change an embedded culture, ie, value system.
A dysfunctional culture contains the seeds of its own destruction. Eventually it becomes so weak and decadent that it “invites” being taken over.
“I know everyone talks about the Mexicans as “invaders”, but they have no capacity to harm us militarily, and if they ever decided to act as a staging ground for enemies that could, we could eliminate that threat with the push of a button.”
Who says they have to use a military to take over? Demographics work even better.
How do you think we came into taking California and most of the southwest from Mexico?
Or “America” from the Indians.
“Christians - continue to do this for our nation and our posterity:”
Actually they have done absolutely squat in this culture war.
The only thing they been good at is turning their inexhaustible supply of “other” cheeks and let the left run all over them.
Name one perversion they have successfully resisted, or just put up any meaning fight.
If anything they have become a big part of the problem, assisting illegals coming in, helping Africans take over places like Minnesota and main, performing gay marriages, etc.
True and in general I’m wary of using analogies with past empires to determine America’s trajectory. It’s too easy to pick and choose the details so that the analogy simply reflects your preconceptions. People like to analogize the United States to the Roman empire. Well, how about if we analogize to China instead. Their civilization has persisted for thousands of years with plenty of ups and downs along the way. We need better criteria for distinguishing between hitting a rough patch and going terminal.
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