ROMAN LESSONS

by David Nuttle

There are many good lessons from a study of reasons why the Roman Empire had such longevity, and those lessons have the potential to benefit the U. S. and other nations. Those

lessons are:

a) A required and organized means of social integration of new populations.

b) Excellent local government within a good legal framework.

c) A sense of justice and social order and Romanness orientation.

d) An organized and well-disciplined military with soldiers serving long-term.

e) Economic vitality and control of trade with naval dominance.

f) Great logistics and courier services for information flow.

g) Shared experiences via baths, games, forums, amphitheaters, & arenas w/ combat in dramatic form.

h) Development of specializations and extensive education efforts.

i) Excellent ability to adapt and limit corruption

j) Economic stability by fair taxation, private lending, and conquests.

Over a period of many decades, the Romans were tested and had problems they were able to overcome on a sustained basis. They made a few mistakes our of ignorance such as use of lead pipes to transport drinking water causing major population health problems. Their military was engaged in engineering and construction to benefit national development in addition to classic military roles. Overall, the Roman Empire gave us many very positive lessons on nation building.

In the U. S., we have a recent lesson of what happens when historical lessons learned are ignored. We allowed over 80,000 Somali refugees, mostly Islamic jihadists to create their own isolated community to preserve their customs, culture, language, and loyalty to their home nation Somalia. As part of that loyalty, the Somali engaged in extensive welfare fraud to extort funds to send to al-Shabaab terrorists in Somalia. The Somali came to the U. S. to help create the global Islamic Caliphate not to become Americans.

The other lesson we missed from Roman history was the many values of good local government. What we have is a massive federal bureaucracy, a dysfunctional Congress often experiencing gridlock, and massive national debts created for future generations.

We may also learn from why the Roman Empire failed. There were civil wars, plagues, military defeats, decline of the middle class, assassinations of Emperors, loss of African territory to the Vandals, the 410 AD sack of Rome by the Gauls, "barracks Emperors (the military commanders who gained power), and division of the Roman Empire in three parts.

Failures also have their teaching points.

Those who fail to learn from history are often doomed to repeat failures of the past!!!!!!!!!!!