Monthly Archives: March 2019

Political Issues

America is The New Rome?

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As I started looking into some of the different American issues I realized we had a unique resemblance to Rome in many ways.

So Is america the next Rome?

Another civil war?

  • First US civil war

The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused seven southern states to secede and form the Confederate States of America; four more states soon joined them. The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, ended in Confederate surrender in 1865. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin.

  • Great Roman civil war

Also known as Caesar’s Civil War, was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations, between Julius Caesar (100–44 BC), his political supporters (broadly known as Popular es), and his legions, against the Optimates (or Boni), the politically conservative and socially traditionalist faction of the Roman Senate, who were supported by Pompey (106–48 BC) and his legions.

The war was a four-year-long politico-military struggle, fought in Italy, Illyria, Greece, Egypt, Africa, and Spania. Pompey defeated Caesar in 48 BC at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, but was himself defeated much more decisively at the Battle of Pharsalus.

  • What is cold civil war ?

A cold civil war is better than a hot civil war, but it is not a good situation for a country to be in. Underlying our cold civil war is the fact that America is torn increasingly between two rival constitutions, two cultures, two ways of life.

as we know ,By 285 CE the Roman Empire had grown so vast that it was no longer feasible to govern all the provinces from the central seat of Rome (which is like america’s future) so The Emperor Diocletian ,divided the empire into halves with the Eastern Empire governed out of Byzantium (later Constantinople) and the Western Empire governed from Rome.

This kind of war is gonna divide country to two part which is like what Diocletian did.

If you want more information about the “US in a COLD CIVIL WAR” click on this link: video

  • America needs therapy?

Therapy is what folks need when they are suffering, when they are having serious conflicts in their relationships, when they are confused about their identity, and their lives are clearly headed in the wrong direction. Given that, I ask us all to stop, take a moment, and look around.

So first step is identify your problem like some America’s today’s issues are:

Health care, Education, Immigration, Free trade, War, Global warming,…

And the most important one is internal political problem which now is  making America divided.

 

  • Should we call it United States government or ancient Rome government?

 

In many ways, the Roman Republic was very similar to the way in which the United States government is organized today. There are three clear divisions of power, as you will see below.

1.EXECUTIVE BRANCH

Consuls: Elected by an assembly; ruled as chief executives for one year; controlled the military

2. LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

Senate: Consisted of 300 members; chosen by aristocrats and responsible for foreign affairs and financial policies

Centuriate Assembly: A group of citizen soldiers that were members for life; elected consuls and drafted/passed legislation

Tribal Assembly: Citizens put into groups depending on where they lived; members for life; elected tribunes

3.JUDICIAL BRANCH

Praetors: Eight judges chosen by the Centuriate Assembly to serve for a year; two of the eight supervised civil court and criminal court  

LEGAL CODE

​The Twelve Tables was similar to the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments of the Constitution), but it only protected free-born male citizens under the law.

CITIZENSHIP

Given to adult man landowners.

But  what is Differences?

  • Roman republic doesn’t have a separate judicial branch it’s included in an other branch.
  • Roman had a provision for a dictator to take over just in case something happens to the consul. Us doesn’t.
  • In Rome consuls have religious duties and the Us doesn’t.
  • Rome continued to  own slaves when the Us stopped.

So I think it’s by no means a foregone conclusion. History doesn’t work that way. And there have been moments where the US looked to be in grave trouble and managed to bounce back. But we have to be really vigilant and defend the integrity of the republic, and defend the integrity of our system, and punish those who abuse our institutions and violate our norms.

by: Kimia Teymouri & Joshua Geiger

Social Issues

RICH VS. POOR (Is America the next rome?) By Tamanna Shaikh

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I am sure you have heard the news…

Every time you turn on the TV, you hear something horrific that is going in the US.

While I personally try not pay attention the negative news, I found myself wondering what was real and what wasn’t. Where there’s smoke there is fire.

As I started looking into some of the different American issues I realized we had a unique resemblance to Rome in many ways.

Specifically, the wage in America. Is america the next rome?
The Wage Gap in America is similar to Rome.
The wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower-income families have increased 40 percent higher than have ever been recorded for 30 years. According to some historians, the Roman society controlled 16 percent of the wealth. Which is less than half of America’s percent control. The wealth of white households is ten times the wealth of non-white households. Rome has tried numerous times to fix the crisis between the Patricians and Plebeians, but the increase of slavery, unemployed,inflation, and corrupt and greedy government officials and patricians (who desire wealth and power other than civic duties) have made these problems irreversible and would continue on until Rome’s fall in 476 C.E. Most of hispanic and black students need a lot of financial help to afford college and other things. In 2016 however, it has been reported that 42% of black families have more student loan debt than white families. Rome may have subtitute money to the plebians to buy goods such as wheat, but Rome cannot lower education costs the plebeians needed, making them uneducated.

Three facts to consider:
-The gap between the rich and poor have increased for years
-The wage gap based on different ethical and social classes (For America: whites and non-whites. For Romans: Patricians and Plebeians.)
-The strategies to help and provide benefits to poor doesn’t always seems to work

The life of richness shelters dark reality
If you’re wealthy in America, then you have give up your relationships, future, and passions and making your wealth your entire life. Roman emperors spend huge sums of money on parties, festivals, and for their personal gain. They only cared about having money and power rather than doing civic duties. A huge empire with tremendous wealth can slowly fall due to bad leadership. This causes invaders to easily attack the empire and people with little money can due to starvation and disease. If you buy nice things, people perceive you as being materialistic or “show off” regardless if it’s true or not. The plebeians at one time, revolted against the patricians due to the fact the patricians make unfair laws that the plebeians doesn’t even know about. During the Roman empire, the plebeians suffer poverty and poor health conditions while the plebeians waste their lives spending money and partying. In both America and Rome, the population of common and poor people greater than wealthy people and aristocrats.

Three facts to consider
-Having tremendous wealth makes you forget who you are.
-The views of wealthy people are negative.
-More common people and less wealthy people.

Poverty in two worlds
In both America and Rome, people continuously buying goods and increasing prices can cause people to be impoverished. In fact, inflation is one of the main contributions to the fall of Rome. As of 2015, millions of americans have lived in poverty although at different times in history. That pretty much how common people in Ancient Rome have live for thousands of years. Decreased trade, worthless money, and tension between neighboring nations may cause a lot of people to be impoverished.
Three facts to consider
-Inflation=poverty.
-The number of people and years of being impoverished have increased.
-The contributions leading to poverty.

Lazy/apathetic aristocrats
You probably already know celebrities and politicians in America who are millionaires or billionaires for many different things. However, some people who aren’t rich believe wealthy people are lazy. If people earn tremendous amounts of money, they might spend the rest of their lives drinking, partying, and socializing rather than going to work or run the government. That’s exactly how Roman emperors spend their leisure times after creating a huge and wealthy empire and then they don’t care about their jobs anymore. Sometimes, having good amounts of money will make you head of the government. But people shouldn’t be leaders who are conceited and only caring about their wealth. Leaders should be caring, kind, and generous to his people no matter the social class.

Three facts to consider
-Are wealthy people really workaholic?
-Lavish lifestyles after becoming rich.
-Money doesn’t always make you powerful.

In my conclusion, America is the next Rome.

Work cited:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-charts-explain-why-some-american-families-are-getting-far-richer-than-others-2017-10-05https://www.businessinsider.com/downsides-of-getting-rich-2014-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_Stateshttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-w-orlando/the-rich-arent-rich-becau_b_4791626.htmlhttps://persquaremile.com/2011/12/16/income-inequality-in-the-roman-empire/https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/falloftheromanempire/

Uncategorized

Ancient Rome and the Big Mac Index

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Inflation’s effect on us today..

In today’s society,  inflation has been causing a rise in the prices of goods and services since the beginning of unified currency.  It can be a direct effect of the concept of supply and demand and is often something that has plagued consumers for as very long time.  In feudal Japan, noble samurai defeated in battle would take their swords and kill themselves because they believed that they had dishonored their lords and didn’t want to face the ridicule and embarrassment they would receive from returning to their village. This has absolutely nothing to do with Inflation in the economy but I just thought it was a useful fact to know.  All over the world, Inflation can be seen in many places today as most currency is worth much less than it was 50 years ago. Money will naturally lose value over time, as more of it is printed and people demand more for less. According to Investopedia, Inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general level of price among various goods and services, and is measured as an annual percentage change.

 

 

Inflation in Ancient Rome..

In ancient Rome, inflation was one of the many other variables that caused the empire’s downfall. After the empire stopped conquering new lands, the flow of new gold into the roman economy drastically decreased. The romans were using too much gold for luxury items. The production of the coin slowed down drastically, and they were becoming rarer and rarer. Merchants raised their prices to accommodate for the lack of new gold in the economy. Eventually gold coins became so rare that only the rich were able to get any. Many people stopped using coins and just decided to barter their belongings to get what they wanted. People started being paid in food and clothing, and taxes were collected with fruits and vegetables. Along with the rising unemployment rate, corruption in the wealthy, and heavy military spending, many of the lower classes such as farmers ended up being poorer than they already were. Inflation definitely played a very large part in rome’s downfall, probably one of the biggest factors.

 

Inflation in our society..

Let’s use an example: 40 years ago,  According to McDonald’s official inflation chart, coined the Big Mac index, the price of a Big Mac from McDonald’s was 75 cents, this was acceptable at the time, as the Big Mac wasn’t as well known as it is today, labor was cheaper, money wasn’t as easily obtainable, and there simply wasn’t as many bills printed back then. Although Inflation isn’t necessarily a bad thing in small doses, When the effect becomes to extreme (more that 2-3% a year) it can become a sign that an economy is failing. of course the Big Mac isn’t reflective of all of America’s economy, but it is a good example to show how much inflation actually effects us. A Big Mac today will cost you 3.99, that’s around 5 times more expensive than it was in the 1970s.  There’s many reasons why this happened change happened, among inflation of money being put in the economy, and the use of better materials in the hamburgers, as there wasn’t a ridiculous amount of morbidly obese Americans 40 years ago, so health wasn’t as much of a concern.. In conclusion, the Inflation rate can help an economy when it is contained, but when out of control it can cause its downfall, and that just happened to be the case for ancient Rome.

 References:

Inflation

https://www.moneycrashers.com/what-is-inflation-definition-causes-inflation-rate/

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11651902

By Uzoma Nwanneka,

Patrick Conteh, Kelly Carter

Social Issues

Fall of Rome

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The Roman Empire Was Just Too Big

Ancient Rome.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 10 Jul. 2017. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/ancient-Rome/106272 

 

Tschen-Emmons, James B. “Roman Empire.” World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2018, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/588528. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018. 

 

Roman Empire.” Gale Encyclopedia of World History: Governments, vol. 1, Gale, 2008. World History in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3048600025/WHIC?u=va_s_053_0900&xid=e8f1d307. Accessed 20 Mar. 2018. 

 

Rome spread quickly and that caused Rome to be too hard to govern 

United states  

In the united states of America there is over 7 billion people it can be just as hard as roman to govern the united states of America  

The other part of Rome that makes it too hard to govern is that there is only one king to watch over everything 

 

The King also had to watch over all the soldiers to make sure they wouldn’t cause any trouble they also had to make sure no one was invading them and that they must care for all these citizens makes it even harder for their Job. 

In the United states of America there are so many factories to feed people and the fact that the president and government must make sure they know when attack is coming and where it would take place, so it is just as hard to Watch over everything as it is to Rome. 

The Government of Rome was Very busy because there where different leaders of Rome that had different opinions on Rome and that also made the Roman Empire very hard to Govern all the time. 

In the united states it is a very similar story the President and the branches of Government have different opinions as well so that makes the United States of America hard to Govern just as much as Rome.  

Rome also had multiple Invasion’s, so it is very hard to watch over all of Rome so that made it hard for Rome to Govern all that land in a certain amount of time That also is a reason Rome was too hard to Govern. 

The United States was also very hard to Govern Everyone must keep their eye out to make sure they know if an attack is coming soon So it was hard to govern the united states just as much as Rome.  

Rome was too hard to govern because everyone in Rome could Protest against the Rome’s government this was another reason why Rome was hard to govern. 

The United states can have a pretty similar situation they also have to deal with the people Protest against the government especially the President of the United states of, America So the United states can have pretty similar situation. 

It was too hard to govern and not everyone was loyal to Rome and different people made their own group so not everyone was loyal to Rome. 

The United states have a similar issue they must deal with people that betray them and make their own group and they attack innocent people and kill soldiers and that created many problems with the United States, so Rome and The United States of America had similar situation. 

The population of Rome was so big too govern so it caused many problems with Rome and that caused Rome to slowly fall because it was so hard to govern all those people. 

The United States of America had a similar Situation there was over 7.6 billion people in the United States, so it was hard for the Government and everyone else to watch over the United States of America. 

Rome also had to deal with their own people fighting each other so they had many issues with people fighting their own kind. 

The United States of America also had a similar problem they must deal with people fighting their own kind and had to deal with a lot of fights and it puts a lot of innocent people in danger, so Rome and the United States of America had to deal with similar situation. 

Rome had to deal with many enemies, so they had to always guard Rome, so it was hard for Rome to govern all their land. 

The United States of America had to deal with the same thing they must deal with a lot of enemies to, so they always must be on the lookout for enemies at most of the time, so Rome and the United States of America are similar when it comes to Enemies. 

Rome also didn’t have very great kings for a while, so Rome had to deal with a lot of issues like invasion, infatuation, and Civil wars. 

The United States of America had a pretty similar issues there where some presidents that don’t do much for the government so that lead to some downfalls of the United States so Rome and The United States of America and a pretty similar situation.