{"id":946,"date":"2024-02-12T17:40:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T17:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/seven-causes-of-civilization-decline-and-fall\/"},"modified":"2024-02-12T17:40:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T17:40:25","slug":"seven-causes-of-civilization-decline-and-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2024\/02\/12\/seven-causes-of-civilization-decline-and-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Causes of Civilizational Decline and Fall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.<\/span><\/p>\n

Will Durant<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

Caesar and Christ<\/em>, epilogue<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As it went with Rome, it may well go with us. I would have no trouble giving current examples of each of Durant's seven causes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps an eighth should be added: the regime's provision of panem et circenses<\/em>, pornography, and legalized drugs to keep the populace distracted, docile, dumbed-down, and doped-up.<\/span><\/p>\n

I watched a few minutes of the Grammys the other night and a few minutes of the Stupor Bowl and its half-time show. It occurred to me that we have an advantage not enjoyed by Augustine: we can watch the decline and fall of a great republic on television. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it ain't over 'til it's over. So we fight on in the gloaming, ready for a long twilight struggle<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within. The essential causes of Rome's decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars. Will Durant Caesar and Christ, epilogue As it went with Rome, it may well … Continue reading “Seven Causes of Civilizational Decline and Fall”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,180,312],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-civilization-and-its-discontents","category-decline-of-the-west","category-political-pessimism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}