30 Mar 12
Originally posted by rwingettYeah, except those civilizations lasted for many centuries.
I've only been predicting a great cataclysm fairly recently, about two years. There will be substantial political unrest within 20 years. It will also have become apparent that we've passed the environmental tipping point within that same time frame, although its effects may not fully manifest themselves until about 50 years from now. So be warned. Your com ...[text shortened]... he world) is going to experience some great and jarring changes within the next few decades.
Your prediction is more analogous to to Romans under Gaius Marius who predicted doom and apocalypse as the Cimbri and Teutons marched southward.
31 Mar 12
Originally posted by sh76The rate of change is accelerating. Rapidly. Your example of Gaius Marius is a telling one, though. For doom did come to the Roman Republic. Not from the Cimbri and the Teutons, though, but from the ambitions of Gaius Marius himself, who served in the consulship an unprecedented seven times. Republican virtue was trampled underfoot by the cult of a personality and the unbridled ambition of certain individuals, all claiming to be Rome's savior. Gaius Marius, Sulla, Julius Caesar... the Republic was transformed into an empire in short order.
Yeah, except those civilizations lasted for many centuries.
Your prediction is more analogous to to Romans under Gaius Marius who predicted doom and apocalypse as the Cimbri and Teutons marched southward.
The United States is at a similar position in its history. As the Congress becomes increasingly dysfunctional (like the Roman Senate), there will be those who will be willing to do what they feel is necessary to restore 'order' and aggrandize themselves in the process. Like the Roman emperors, they will likely maintain the outward trappings of Constitutional authority, but they will reign as virtual despots. The sad thing is that the people, desiring a functional despotism over a dysfunctional democracy, will likely welcome it.
