I don't believe gay marriage had anything to do with it.
1. Political corruption
2. Divided Empire
3. Decline of military might
- Refusal by the people to enlist
- No one to replace veterans.
- Disloyalty to Rome in the military ranks.
- Barbarian influence
4. Economic problems
- empire became poor and thus so did Rome
- debased currency
- High Taxes
- Disease
5. Empire is laid to rest finally by barbaric warlords.
In
bold is what's affecting or happening in the US right now.
Underline is probable in the mid-to-long-term.
I think we're certainly on our way to a future that is alien to what most Americans are accustomed to. I am always hopeful that our elected officials will get their collective acts together, put politics aside, and simply 'work for the betterment of our country'. But I think that on some problems, even if the Congress and Senate were in perfect harmony, that nothing could be done to remedy the situation... it's too far gone at this point to rectify. I believe there are several cataclysmic failures that we are potentially facing. We face many on a daily basis, like catastrophic terrorism in the form of a decapitating cyberattack. But an in house problem that is cataclysmic would be like our debt. I am surprised that we have made it this far without more serious damage, because if someone besides us had this type of debt, which is affecting the rest of the world, something would be done about it - there would be an intervention. The dollar is weakened too, which makes things worse for us.
After the last Presidential election, we got to see the raw divide in America. The 'Seceding from the Union' movement. But elements of that level of discontent have existed for years in millions of Americans. The government has been, and probably will continue to monitor the more armed and open dissenters like those seen in militias and the Patriot movement. I include our collective inmate/criminal population, at least the overwhelming majority of them, like the ones that are career criminals. They most certainly likely hold anti-government views in the extreme, definitely anti-authoritarian. So in earnest, there is a sizable population of Americans that the government likely considers malcontent. Those views probably change whenever a new ideological administration comes into the White House. You know, the liberals say the conservatives are terrorists, and the conservatives say that the liberals are communists or socialists or, in President Obama's case, a fascist.
We're not projecting our power the way we used to because of budget constraints. Our budget constraints affect our readiness too. The sequester is going to do some damage to our military, I don't know the compartmentalized long-term estimates, but I know it is damaging us militarily. And I believe that it is coming at a wrong time historically. For there are always barbarians at the gate, like China for instance. Sure, our budget, though being cut, still dwarfs theirs, but I prefer to have a solid and comfortable qualitative military edge over our adversaries. China is the supposed economic heir to our throne. They could, potentially, start outspending us on military budgets. Either way, they're our competition. What especially troubles me is the BRICS concept. I'm not alone in my thinking, since those rising economies pose a threat to us according to former Secretary of Defense Panetta.
