"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."
From Snopes.com I found out that Cicero probably never said this, Cato may have said something like it, but the quote really comes from a work of fiction:
In a letter to The Chicago Tribune (20 April 1971), John H. Collins, Professor of History at Northern Illinois University, reported that the quote actually originated in A Pillar of Iron (1965), Taylor Caldwell's fictionalized account of the life of the senator Cicero.
I have to say that the popularity of the quote does make a point about the parallels between the collapse of Rome and the government of the United States today, people are spamming it around because it sounds like a modern-day Tea Party Republican talking. I also think some comparisons can be drawn between pre-Hitler Germany and the US today. Added to this, you can find a lot in common with our economy and the economy of Argentina just before their economic collapse. Most of the people were in the same state of denial as Americans today. I have a degree in history, I don't get a lot of use out of it these days but I would like to get it out and wave it around a bit on this one. Our country is in trouble, history is repeating (as it so often does) and our citizens need to wake up and become aware.
So true! I wish that people would just open their eyes and see what's going on, but most people are just blindly going through the motions of life and not really paying attention. They especially don't pay attention to history. Everyone has heard that history repeats itself, but no one really wants to think about it. It's so frustrating!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I have of course cried in a corner before when it comes to parenting, especially when the kids were newborns. I was just pointing out that it's not an every day occurrence anymore :)