Early Classical Era:
While taking a class in Social Psychology during the fall of
2015 (not many months ago really), I learned just how selective and faulty
memories of our species often are.
Perhaps that is one reason I do not recall learning much about the
Chinese, Persian and Indian Empires while taking a high school World History
class many moons ago. Alternatively,
since World History was almost as equally vast a subject then as it is now,
maybe my teacher only had enough time to cover the Egyptian, Grecian and Roman
civilizations. On the other hand, since
the Egyptian, Grecian and Roman civilizations heavily influenced the later
development of “western civilizations” to which the United States belongs; U.S.
educational systems may have chosen to focus most on those three
civilizations. Whatever the reason, it
was refreshing to learn about the empires of Persia, China and India in Ways of
the World by Robert W. Strayer.
While Strayer mentions on page 144 that, “historians
frequently cringe as politicians and students use (and perhaps misuse)
historical analogies to make their case for particular points of view in the
present,” the temptation is too great to let pass. Though I am no expert on history or the
current affairs of the United States, I could not help noticing possible
similarities between problems leading to the demise of the Chinese and Roman
Empires and some difficulties the U.S. appears to have now. On page 139, Strayer indicates both empires
“got too big, too overextended, and too expensive to be sustained by the
available resources, and no fundamental technological breakthrough was
available to enlarge these resources.”
The U.S. may have sufficient means to create technological breakthroughs
that could help sustain itself with the resources available, however, things
like the growing U.S. National Debt, the high cost of the “war on terror,” an
extensive dependency on oil, an ever increasing income gap, etc. make me wonder
if we should not revisit history to ensure we are not repeating an ill-fated
pattern.
I was also struck by the line “the growth of large
landowning families with huge estates and political clout enabled them to avoid
paying taxes, turned free peasants into impoverished tenant farmers, and
diminished the authority of the central government,” as well as the line,
“rivalry among elite factions created instability in both empires and eroded
imperial authority.” If I am not
mistaken, the tax on the wealthy in the U.S. is currently at one of the lowest
rates in the history of the country.
Wealthy individuals and corporations have used their financial and
political power to find ways to avoid paying taxes. While their wealth increases, the majority of
the population appears to be headed towards the state of “impoverished tenant
farmers.” I also believe our most recent
congress was deemed the least effective and productive in the history of
Congress. Many citizens are so
disheartened with the ineffectiveness of the U.S. political system; they are
opting not to participate in the electoral process.
