03-15-2017, 11:07 AM
Quote:1. Are we destined to become the modern-day Romans?
We've been modeling ourselves off them since the Revolution. That's why we have a Senate, and the early government buildings, state and federal, were largely done in neoclassical style. In terms of parallels, I'd say (with a tip of the hat to Spengler and Toynbee) that we are more around the era of the Grachii and Sulla than the fall of the Empire.
Quote:2. If the feds secede more power to the states, could the former Confederacy basically have carte blanche to restore at least some aspects of Jim Crow, or will the feds retain enough clout for this not to happen?
Do you live in the South? Was 1965 yesterday? How old are you?
Quote:3. Stopping behavoirs which are unsustainable? You mean like "free love" become unsustainable with the advent of the AIDS scare? Would the sexual revolution have ended even if there were no AIDS or equivalent?
No, he and I both were discussing environmental/economic practices more than purely social ones. As for the specific point raised, you could argue that things like gay marriage and the whole transgender thingamaroo are part of it, suggesting it hasn't ended at all. If you mean the "free love" thing specifically, while it is difficult to speak authoritatively on hypotheticals, I imagine it would have petered out on its own anyways. The history of "free love" type communities in the 19th century, for one, suggest that it isn't really a stable social model.