Is their a civil war in the future for the U.S.

April 1, 2019 Charlie Leave a comment

By: Charlie Mercer and Justin Teer

Is There a Civil War in the Future for the U.S.?

Most people don’t think it is possible but is there a civil war in the future of the U.S.

As I have been reading more and more about the conflicts between the political parties as with trump and other countries. I have learned that eventually the U.S could possibly have a civil war pt 2.

The chances of this happening anytime soon are unlikely, but possible.

This war would happen if after a while both parties or sides can not agree on a major current event happening.

After reading about this, I realized that this situation is most like the situation in rome when it was at its highest point.

In Rome the plebeians(low social class) thought that the patricians(highest social class) treated them unfairly.

When julius caesar was ruler then the plebeians were not as mad because julius likes the plebeians.

Julius gave rights to everyone no matter what your social class was which made all lower class people happy.

Julius was killed by the rest of the roman senators because they did not like the new rules for the lower classes.

Eventually the plebeians got tired of how much work they were doing and how little they were getting in return.

The civil war that happened because of these actions is one of the main factors that caused rome’s empire to decline.

Is too much money sometimes a problem.

For most people this question does not go through their minds, but after doing some research I think this should be something that everybody thinks about.

In Rome in about 500 B.C there were two main social classes, the Plebeians and the Patricians.

The Patricians were at the top of the social class, they had the money and held all of the power.

While the Plebeians are the lower side of the social class, the farmers, the craftsmen, and the laborers.

After a while of working hard and not getting much in return the plebeians were done.

Eventually the plebeians got somewhat of what they wanted in the twelve tables.

The twelve tables gave basic rights to anyone no matter what social class they are in.

This worked until it didn’t. The Patricians still have all the power and the plebeians still think they deserve more.

Especially after Julius Caesar died who had a good relationship with the plebeians.

The patricians won’t give the plebeians what they want they go to war.

Unsurprisingly the civil war is one of the reasons Rome’s massive empire began to decline.

If the Patricians weren’t as greedy and just compromised with the plebeians then the Rome empire could have lasted much longer.

Economic Issues, Social Issues

how Rome and America completely changed over 2000 years.

April 1, 2019 835156 Leave a comment

hayden burn and olivia ianizzi

How Rome and America completely changed in 2000 years

I think that Rome and america are different in terms of population shrinking and farming and this is why:

Did you know?….

That the US population is overpopulated, but have you heard that a large part of it is in poverty.

Produce in ancient Rome consisted of organic vegetables and grains that they farmed.

While the US today “runs on Dunkin’’ aka fat food where there are ingredients that lead to health problems and diseases.

In Ancient Rome farming was the main source of food and it was all free since it was farmed.

In America today’s price tags on healthy produce is exponentially higher than fast food which is why over half of America is Obese.

Overpopulation in america; when is it too much?

Overpopulation; when the ecological footprint of a human population exceeds the carrying capacity.

Is America overpopulated? Yes and no.

Yes because America is growing at the fastest rate we have ever seen, we have not completely hit capacity yet.

In comparison to the time in Ancient Rome when the population was shrinking, America now is the complete opposite with scare of overpopulation.

Ancient Rome shrinked for many different reasons. But some of the main reasons are disease, starvation, and war/ invasions.

Also in ancient Rome the population was decreasing not because of the food because most of their food was natural and healthy so it wasn’t causing all of the diseases.

Although that wasn’t the biggest part if someone had an illness they didn’t have the correct tools, medicine or knowledge. Now we have the education and new inventions to help cure many illnesses and that will help us not shrink in population as much as ancient rome did.

Food differences; why america is known for its food and not in a good way.

You might know what fast food is, right? Yes. almost the whole population of america is literally running on this cheap, fast, and delicious craze.

Our country is divided between the community of people who eat and live on fast food chains like McDonalds, chick-fil-a, taco bell, etc. while the others are eating a healthy lifestyle and are gym obsessed.

Though there is a group of people in between the divide, i think it’s harder to find them. I think this because i feel as though social media has such an influence on people.

Young girls are growing up seeing an image of what they should look like. On the other hand companies, specifically fast food chains are constantly telling you how good there new items are. So what do people do? They go and buy it and enjoy it.

Now we can get into Rome, ancient Rome has always had a big agricultural community but compared to america today it’s a world of difference.

Most families had a farm with animals and when they would go and sell them or their produce they would make money and they would put that money back into their farm.

Overall farming and fishing were a big part of ancient Rome and everyone was eating the same; healthy, mainly because there was no food.

How do price tags lead to Obesity?

Healthy foods tend to be more expensive than unhealthy food, this leads to obesity or other health problems.

People in poverty get less expensive foods because they can not afford to buy foods that are expensive.

Food products that are healthy have better ingredients, that are better for you which make the price of the item go up quickly.

Although, unhealthy foods tend to be less expensive, so people in poverty want to buy the unhealthy foods.

Americans in poverty need things other than food for example they worry more about cars and shelter than spending lots of money just to eat healthy.

Some Americans are more focused on that than food, so they would get the less expensive food and get a good car. This leads to obesity because less expensive food tends to be unhealthy.

In Ancient Rome there was farming and fishing. This helps them because they always will have food set right in front of them, they just have to work for it. Food that is farmed or fished for are healthy, because it is all natural.

Ancient Rome and America today are much different because of food differences.

Economic Issues, Political Issues, Social Issues

Are rich Americans getting more lazier with more problems?

April 1, 2019 1012821 Leave a comment

By Joi Wilson and Grace M.

Whenever there is a Pollution or Government problem, people with less money tend to try to fix it. Some rich people will help, but we’re not seeing that much participation from them.

People that don’t make as much money and are on the lower side of the spectrum care more about the news and problems because it might affect their work or other things in their lives. Money tends to make people feel as if they don’t need to focus on other things.

This is also showing a resemblance of when Rome was falling apart and the rich shared no concerns toward it and care about themselves. Now some of America’s wealthy people are reenacting this issue.

If you were watching YouTube, some people discuss on how money can be corrupting to the mind. I looked at more videos and websites, I realized that this could lead toward peoples compassion getting killed by money. Are Rich Americans getting lazier with more Problems?

Is money killing compassion in others?

This was tested by multiple scientists that people who are known to be wealthy don’t have to likeness to care what is happening around them.

It’s found that most wealthy Americans don’t care much about other people’s health and well-being. Some wealthy Americans even won’t risk buying candy for a child. It’s proven that when rich Americans are in front of a TV and watch a commercial about kids with cancer that react less than people in poverty.

Are rich people being less included in this society

It’s found that according to the Association for Psychological Science that higher class citizens (rich Americans) don’t care much about their surroundings. For one of the proven facts, it’s found that rich people and actually ruder towards people with more poverty.

For their first experiment, they gave wealthy and less wealthy people Google glasses with eye tracking on them. As the experiment was going on, they notice that the less wealthy people more likely looking at people on Instagram. While, wealthy people look more at dwell “things”.

Are the rich destroying the economy?

People have been recognizing that wealthy people have lower tax rates than less wealthy people. This causes poor people to struggle to make money, which causes the richer Americans to Feel superior and as if their more important. Also, richer Americans control half of all the Wealth. When it comes to taxes, the rich aren’t investing some of their resources. Some have said whenever they receive money, it will either be spent on vehicles and accessories. The rich should be paying the most taxes since they make the most but the poorer side of the spectrum seem to be paying more taxes? The rich seem to be thriving and doing better than ever. For the poorer people I’m not sure I can totally say that same but it isn’t the worst it would ever be. The poor people in the end would be affected the most by anything that damages their jobs and that’s why the Rich Americans don’t keep track of the news very well. Giving rich more money is not doing any good for the economy because not that money rich people are investing in money. It’s more like depositing it. The rich just end up hoarding all the money, and when they find was to make more they just hire as few people as possible.

Rich people don’t need anything else so only think about themselves and not government issues.

Richer Americans tend to not think about government issues because their too busy focusing on their money and power. Wealthier Americans also tend to not rely on others, making them not pay attention to other citizens. Some wealthier Americans no longer watch the news because they’re too busy looking at their popularity status or how much money they have to stay at the top. Researchers said that the more powerful people will only nod or laugh while in a conversation about Political or Economic issues. Another test was two people having a conversation about the death of a loved one or troubles, and they were lower class. The conversation between higher class showed less concern and hardship.

Economic Issues, Political Issues, Social Issues

America vs Rome: The Final Demise

April 1, 2019 818094 Leave a comment

By Hassan Azam & Brady Johnson

The problems faced by Romans included poverty, enormous financial differences, and a costly economy. At the time, the wealthy people gained too much power, and showing little interest in Rome’s problems.

Today we have many rich people with a wide wealth gap between them and the poor. The poor then would have revolt with many trying to blame the government.

The Roman government was therefore unable to find a solution to such a problem. It is quite fascinating and scary at the same time because many of these problems are faced by Americans today.

It’s like likely that due to our own incompetence and apathy we are going to be demolished as a whole over the span of merely a few years.

Poverty/Homelessness

We have many different problems facing people in America today, but you don’t realize it because our phones and watches distract us too much. We don’t know the truth hidden behind the curtain.

The people in Loudoun County are incredibly privileged and lucky to be in this town, but no one has appreciation. We’ve got kids doing stupid stuff when they’re given the biggest opportunity ever.

Throughout America there are people who are so poor that they try to commit a crime, so when they go to jail they can get food and shelter all day.

In the meantime you and I are just chilling in our houses watching Netflix and having a nice warm home cooked meal. This is the beginning of our end.

The US is now one of the world’s powers, facing a greed issue that was once faced by Rome a long time ago. The people of Rome who were rich had absolutely no concern for others.

If we don’t buck up as a country, then were not going to sustain ourselves. The poor are much like back in Rome because the rich don’t care and they’re just enjoying life.

Financial differentiation

Another reason for Rome’s fall was financial difference. There were tons of poor people, as well as some wealthy people, but no middle class. There might be some around here, but on a bigger scale it’s a big difference.

This caused civil war between two political groups, which had no good effect on Rome, and caused mass destruction. If the poor stay rising at this rate, then the downfall will be even more horrendous.

This had a very bad effect on Rome’s economy and social government. America as whole is condemned to meet the same fate as the once great Romans.

Overpriced Economy

A gallon of gas cost 15 cents back in 1966, but now it’s a gallon of $ 2.00, and that’s what’s considered cheap. The economy of america has had a massive increase ever since the 1970s gas crisis.

Much like Rome the economy was growing too rapidly causing a massive increase on taxes which directly affected the poor the most. In turn it caused the poor to go homeless and once again split the country into two.

The economy is likely to rise from a mass inflation once again. The economy can’t change, but the difference for the rich doesn’t matter because there money and salary rises too.

All of these reason caused the poor people to totally lose all their money, which then became the reason of the rift between the rich and the poor.

In the end whatever way you put America has many of the same problems as Rome which is scary considering that they were finally wiped out as a city. We are likely to fall the same way, but we can’t change from our mistakes no matter what.

Economic Issues, Political Issues, Social Issues

A Wall Can Cause America to Crumble like Rome

April 1, 2019 Jackie Lewis Leave a comment

A Wall Can Cause America to Crumble like Rome

By Jackie Lewis and Shea Laura

December 22nd, 2018, America witnessed its longest government shutdown in history. For 35 days, 9 federal departments went without pay; leaving 800,000 workers without income.

The result of this seemingly never ending nightmare was the quarrel over the funding of our President’s wall on the southern border of Mexico. Our President’s desire for his wall pushed him into shutting down our government to receive the funding for his partition on our southern border.

The Parties’ Points of View

Our President thinks that if we can block out Mexico then most of the country’s problems can be fixed. But the reality is that the majority of the crimes committed in the country aren’t done by immigrants, but native born US citizens.

Most of the republicans side with President Trump on these matters, but not all. They are willing to side with the President because they see it as the most fit way to get what they want.

Democrats on the other hand, rather use the money for more appropriate matters. Democrats actually supported giving money to border security, but not funding for the wall.

The Effects On Our Own Citizens

The standstill in congress between the Democrats and Republicans to pass an appropriate spending bill for President Trump’s wall caused our government shutdown, and left over 800,000 employees unpaid.

Most government workers were still going into work so that when they got paid after the shutdown ended, they would have a paycheck to take home to their families.

While the government has shutdown three times during Trump’s presidency, this has been the most catastrophic shut down in his presidency, and the history of the United States.

Just like Rome…

A major disagreement like this one is a telltale sign of failure. Sooner or later our country will split more than it already is, for a second time. Past empires, governments, and civilizations have failed because of major disputes between itself, and as history continues to repeat, we are on the path to failure.

A famous empire that fell due to a civil war between government bodies is Rome. Ancient Rome may not seem like it is similar to the United State, but in present time, it is. The United States have followed the wrong footsteps into Rome’s slow descent into nothingness. With our government shutting down, and the never ending dispute between Republicans and Democrats, America is looking quite similar to Rome.

Rome’s government split over time, and when the non-stop fighting between the two government bodies piled on year after year, 300 agonizingly slow years later Rome fell. 300 years, the United States have barely been a country for that long, but is still experiencing the same amount of disagreement between our government.

There is no telling how it may play out, but if the United States continues to argue and disagree between our government, we may end up like Ancient Rome in a hundred, or less, years. And if it’s all over a wall, I’m sure history would be disappointed.

Economic Issues, Social Issues

Is Being Rich Always A Good Thing?

April 1, 2019 815917 Leave a comment

Is being rich always really a good thing? By Jamie Kaine and Avery Jones

Rich becoming lazy and showing little interest in trying to solve Rome’s problems was an issue way back when, but when looking at today’s economy, you see a very similar issue.

Is a 5% donation too big for billionaires?

How many times have you said “I’ll just do it later?” Almost everyone, right?

Well, billionaires think the same way. They think that all of these issues needing help, and problems needing solutions, will still be there in 10 or even 20 years. This doesn’t push them to donate large amounts towards all of these issues, because they can “just do it later,” right? Or can they?

Are billionaires becoming “bothered” by charities?

The answer to that question is no, the rich are the ones bothering the charities.

Being asked to do something after you finish what you are doing is something that no one enjoys, but this happens on a day to day basis. From teachers asking you to do a paper after your test, to your mom telling you to do your chores after your homework. The rich feel the same.

They are asked to donate money to charities that need the help, but say they’re “too busy or bothered” to do anything at all. Though it is their money and they are not requires to, it is a great thing to do since they have so much wealth and are earning more and more everyday. But sometimes, they don’t see it that way.

Rich don’t donate due to their “values not aligning”

Finding an organization that believes in all the same things you do, is against all the things you are against, and supports all the things you support, can be very challenging sometimes. People with more money are often very particular about where their hard earned cash is going.

Say there’s a charity that gives 85% of donations towards a foundation you believe in, and keeps the other 15%, a lot of people see this and do not think twice. But often times, people with more wealth feel that 100% of all donations should go towards the foundation they choose, and if they don’t, oftentimes, they will not donate a lot of money towards that foundation.

Finding a charity you fully support and where donations go directly to the foundation can be rare, people with wealth are even more specific with where their money is really going.

It does not take long to figure out what things you like and don’t like, after that it’s just a matter of what charity will make the most of your money, but most don’t even take the time to think about what they do or do not like.

Will rich go broke after donating small portions to charity?

This is a silly question that most billionaires fear and most people with regular incomes laugh at simply because, this will not happen.

If you had $10 and you gave away $5, then yes, you could fear the thought of losing the rest of your money easily. But if you have $72 billion, and are making even more everyday and won’t even give $10 of that away, that may be an issue.

5% of one billion dollars is fifty million. That sure does seem like a lot, but if you think about it, that is only 5% of their wealth, they still have literal millions left. And even less than that, 0.1% of one billion is one million.

0.1%!!!!!!!

But when you have 100 dollars and spend 10 and see that how much you have is no longer three digits, you may panic. There are so many millionaires and billionaires that fear that number of digits going down, that it really never does.

Many of the wealthy with millions or even billions are scared of giving even the slightest bit of money away from the fear of losing it all and going broke, which is crazy and not at all a rational fear

Social Issues

Could America meet the same fate as Rome?

April 1, 2019 820578 Leave a comment

By: Jordan Harris

If you aren’t aware, our president is constantly putting the safety of our home state at risk and at this point, basically have no say in the decisions.

There is nothing we can do to change the way our president does things because he doesn’t pay attention to the people as much as he should, which could lead to the fall of America.

If you think about it for a good minute, America these days is working a lot like Rome did back then, that means that America can also end the same way as rome, here’s why…

Illegal Immigrants in America

During the Roman Republic (509 B.C.-27 B.C.) and the early Roman Empire, immigration was largely confined to those whom Rome had conquered and enslaved.

Early immigration also occurred when armed migrant tribes seeking new lands attempted unsuccessfully to conquer Roman territory. A famous example of this was the migration of the Germanic Cimbri and Teutones into Gaul (now France and northern Italy) during the period 120-101 B.C.

America is very iffy on the welcoming of immigrants into America. They aren’t as “barbaric” as they used to be in Rome with slavery and conquering, but most officials don’t treat it lightly, nonetheless.

The more immigrants there are in America calls for more job openings needed, in Rome more immigrants or “barbarians” were used as slaves and there were not many jobs needed because they mostly filled in farm work.

So more immigrants in America could need more jobs but that is including the naturalization process which wasn’t really a thing in The Roman Republic and Early Roman Empire.

3 Facts to Consider

-1.) Immigrants = More Jobs

-2.) More Jobs = More Money

-3.) More Money = Inflation

America is still very different from Rome.

On the other hand, we still remember Rome as one of the strongest empires that we’ve seen. Well, not exactly seen, but have heard of. The military situation is vastly different.

After fighting off all challengers for centuries, Rome’s military power waned and it was finally overtaken by a series of military losses to Germanic tribes, including the sacking of Rome in 410 by the Visigoth King Alaric, and another sacking by the Visigoths led by Geiseric in 455.

In 476, the Germanic warrior Odoacer led a revolt from within that deposed the Emperor Romulus Augustulus, making him the last Roman emperor to rule Italy from Rome. The Eastern part of the Empire actually survived until 1453 CE, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks.

The U.S. has powerful military opponents like Russia and China, but an all-out conflict involving any of the nuclear powers seems highly unlikely due to mutually assured destruction.

However, asymmetrical warfare like terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists or cyberattacks and subterfuge from Russia can cause more gradual decline in American power due to weakening confidence in its leaders and institutions.

Still, this is not likely to result in a serious military loss unless a more direct confrontation takes place, which at this point seems impossible. So the world’s most powerful military should keep America intact for the time being.

Still either way, America is making the same mistakes as Rome.

The country is less a melting pot today, but a stew of competing ethnic, racial, and social divisions. National, state, and local debt loads are unsustainable.

Our national infrastructure – roads and bridges – is falling apart from neglect and lack of maintenance even as our electronic infrastructure lags many of our international competitors.

Political corruption is rife and influence is based by the size of financial donation to the political party and candidate

Many political observers believe that in the era of rampant partisanship, America’s system of checks and balances in government is no longer operative

There is still a possibility, but we just need to be cautious.

The possibility of the fall of America is a very popular topic nowadays and has been for a while now. It is very prominent and could happen at anytime, all it takes is one mistake.

Our President is very nonchalant about the topic, and his little dumb slogan “Make America Great Again,” probably just jinxed us for the worst. If he does one thing wrong or breaks one of his connections, that could EASILY result in war.

This is basing off of how hot-headed all of our connected leaders are, so they all have the power to start a war if the time comes or if our “AmAzInG pReSiDeNt” gets on someone powerfuls’ nerves.

Political Issues, Social Issues

Is Rome like America?

April 1, 2019 shahyan Leave a comment

Is America following in Rome’s footsteps

By Shahyan & Jr

In Rome the rich stopped providing money for the army and the army started to fall, and that was the cause of the decline of army. This was a reason why Rome fell, could this also happen to the U.S?

Rome is different from the U.S because we don’t have only the wealthy in the army, anybody can be in the army now.

In the U.S these days people become selfish with their money and do not like to donate to good causes to help others. Some of the rich help others but also some of the rich waste their money on valuables and after a while they start to be in poverty and want people to help them when they had the chance to help people they failed to do so.

If the rich stopped helping the army by joining or by providing funding for army then we will start to lose our advantages that we’ve some of the things we may lose is our technological advances and our large manpower causing foreign nations to invade with ease.

Rich stopped caring for lower classes

The upper class people like to earn their money and not give to lower classes. The upper class likes to keep their money to themselves and not help or give to others that are in need.

The upper class spends their money on material things and stop spending it on things that could help the U.S. this is like Rome because in Rome the rich stop providing for the army and the army started to become week and eventually they fell because of the lack of help the upper class gave.

This caused a large social class gap to form causing some hostility towards the rich from the poor causing a internal struggle within Rome trying to control the poor from rising up and causing a civil war. The reason is why is the rich stopped caring about the poor and treating them poorly.

Rich stopped donating to better causes:

Finding the correct program to donate to is difficult for people, and donating to something you like or agree with is difficult. The rich have the chance to donate to the lower class or better causes but they choose it and they like to do their own thing with their money, but the middle class donates to better causes and the richer class is apathetic towards those things.

If the rich did donate to these good causes it would improve the environment and how the lower class would be a lot nicer to the upper class, and everyone would be happy. This would end all the hatred in Rome and in the U.S the poor wouldn’t be jealous the Rich wouldn’t be prideful and cocky.

Social Issues

What happened with rome? Is the fall of rome similar to our american society today?

April 1, 2019 815895 Leave a comment

-by colin and brian

There are tons of reasons why rome fell it would take days to explain all of i.

Rome’s plebeians and patricians were both extremely different the poor and normal people(plebeians) could barley help the society and contribute to anything because of the prices to pay of everything in rome.

After years and years of rome being live and well the wealthy and rich people stopped caring pretty much and stopped paying the higher taxes and stopped helping be in the army

And all of that as you can probably tell, literally made the entirety of rome collapse…

The army came down because the rich didn’t care enough to put themselves in it…

Rome’s army needs help

Rome needed soldiers so they hired mercenaries…

Which was more money out of their pockets

And those mercenaries weren’t very good fighters because they didn’t really care about rome since they were from different countries.

But rome needed the soldiers because while everybody inside of rome stopped paying for things everybody on the outside of rome was at war.

The difference of the social classes

The gap between the two social classes was growing and while the rich stopped caring the poor couldn’t do anything because they didn’t have the money to help the society grow again.

The plebeians and patricians were so economically different by this point that they could not help the fall of the empire.

Most of the poor actually cared and wanted to help out with rome but by then slaves were taking their jobs and making them homeless pretty much making them powerless within the empire of rome.

Instability in the social classes

The plebeians jobs were taken then they were homeless and that would anger them to start an uproar within the empire making it continuously fall

The gap between the two classes grew further and further apart

The plebeians were angry with the gap and started more problems than the romans already had before

So now with the plebeians not having jobs and the patricians not caring enough to pay for anything the economy is crashing faster than ever

How is rome similar to america now?

Based off all the differences i’ve stated just now i bet there’s some thoughts about america and our economy.

We have the same problem with the super elite rich people of america not caring about paying taxes or paying for the army.

Our army right now is very strong but seems the more and more rich people stop paying for taxes and that will not soon but eventually make a huge dent in our economy and our army.

As is now in america it’s already hard to get a job as a lower class person and if a lower class person even got one it wouldn’t be a very good one.

And since it seems like nobody seems to know or care about the decline of our american economy we need to start paying taxes and be more involved with our country.

In conclusion…

Americans could have a similar end like the romans so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen…

you wanna be around here for a while…don’t you?

I know being rich has its benefits but also its declines as in paying higher taxes, just do it, help the economy, please, we need it.

Roman America

Analyzing the fall of Rome and how it relates to current events today.