Great Quote

I stumbled upon a great quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

"The Roman Republic fell, not because of the ambition of Caesar or Augustus, but because it had already long ceased to be in any real sense a republic at all. When the sturdy Roman plebeian, who lived by his own labor, who voted without reward according to his own convictions, and who with his fellows formed in war the terrible Roman legion, had been changed into an idle creature who craved nothing in life save the gratification of a thirst vapid excitement, who was fed by the state, and who directly or indirectly sold his vote to the highest bidder, then the end of the republic was at hand, and nothing could save it. The laws were the same as they had been, but the people behind the laws had changed, and so the laws counted nothing."

And how true it is!  He captured something very important that we Americans must always consider (this will also be a recurring theme of mine).  America will not fall because of a bad President, or a corrupt government.  It will not fall because of a mixed economic system or a Welfare state.  It will only fall if the once great American worker, the American middle class, changes their values from one of rugged independence to sloven and opulent dependence.  Rome fell by an abandonment of morality.  And so can we.

-----Jason Roberts

Comments

[Gaius]

Nice find. Very true, indeed.

Of course you know a president like T.R., which in some ways we need, would fray the liberal conscience of the press. Force of personality, in an age of political correctness, is a liability. Tragic indeed.

[Jason Roberts]

It really isn't shocking. T.R. had a very heavy Classical training.

And yes, very tragic. But risk is the capital of politics. We need someone like him.

[jay]

Wasn't TR the one who ran as a third party candidate, in order to split the republican vote and allow Wilson to become president, specifically because wilson supported the formation of the federal reserve.

[Jason Roberts]

If you mean the Bull Moose party (or the progressive party), then yes. See http://www.highbeam.com/library/docfree.asp?DOCID=1E1:Progrsv&ctrlInfo=Round18%3AMode18c%3ADocG%3AResult&ao=