Green, incidentally, published fine translations of the Iliad and Odyssey in his 90s, and died just before his 100th birthday. Perhaps spleen kept him going.
A shared quality between golden age America and Greece(and Rome, for that matter) is a military meta that prioritized mobilizing large numbers of heavy infantry combined with a level of state capacity that was unequal to the task of maintaining a permanent professional force on that scale. The aristocracy in this situation had to make some concessions to the ordinary citizens who formed the backbone of the army and navy if they wanted to win wars. When state capacity reached the point where a citizen militia is no longer needed, citizens' rights and autonomy were rapidly eroded.
Eras where the meta is prohibitively expensive tech such as cavalry, chariots, or air power favor aristocrats and plutocrats in those societies where state capacity is lacking, so you get feudalism or something like it instead of citizen republics.
“A combination of atomization, urbanization, and political nationalization mean the average American’s control over their own government is lower than ever. But, much like with the fraudulently autonomous poleis of Hellenistic Greece, the ghost has (mostly) gone out of American self-government. A combination of atomization, urbanization, and political nationalization mean the average American’s control over their own government is lower than ever. Americans see bad laws, bad ideas, bad policies, and bad social trends all over the place, but when any change of course requires taking control of a country of 340 million, what hope is there?”
One area where Americans do govern themselves is zoning, and they have messed it up pretty badly. One can think of other examples.
I think public choice theory is a better way to understand what makes good governance than morality tales. And I don’t see the evidence that local control necessarily leads to better outcomes. If the point is perceptions of control, then maybe we should give people that rather than the real thing.
Direct democracy, as structured in Switzerland (which, by the way, is different from California in important ways), works well. Why not just give the people the power in a form which actually seems to preserve economic freedom?
I don't think our current situation can be compared to the Hellenistic period. The cultural decline and loss of autonomy is the same, to be sure, but there are two significant differences between then and now.
First is that there is no 'Rome' in our age. The author mentions China as an ascendant power, but they have already entered into their own phase of decadence and decline. Their birth rate is actually lower than most Western countries, and the average citizen also has less autonomy. People are miserable, especially young people, and many are trying to leave through any way they can. Last time they tried to invade anyone (Vietnam in the 70s) they were trounced soundly. Even if Xi somehow achieves his ambition of Taking Taiwan, it will a pyrrhic victory. Although the America-based world culture is declining, there no nation rising up to replace it.
The second difference is Christianity. Though abandoned by the majority of the population in the West, its death has been greatly exaggerated. Jesus Christ, through the holy Spirit which indwells his people, is the salt which preserves civilization. Even a minority of faithful believers has an enlivening and preservative effect on the life of a nation. When Rome became decadent, it was Christianity which replaced it, and the civilization which resulted, despite challenges, has endured to this day. I hope and believe that faith in Jesus Christ will be the force that rises and fills in the void of our decedent and failing culture, and not only our culture, but many others - Christianity is quietly becoming the dominant faith in China too.
Excellent review. Thanks. My experience learning history was exactly like that. We met the Greeks, they conquered everything and then they reappeared as educated slaves in Rome…..
Green, incidentally, published fine translations of the Iliad and Odyssey in his 90s, and died just before his 100th birthday. Perhaps spleen kept him going.
A shared quality between golden age America and Greece(and Rome, for that matter) is a military meta that prioritized mobilizing large numbers of heavy infantry combined with a level of state capacity that was unequal to the task of maintaining a permanent professional force on that scale. The aristocracy in this situation had to make some concessions to the ordinary citizens who formed the backbone of the army and navy if they wanted to win wars. When state capacity reached the point where a citizen militia is no longer needed, citizens' rights and autonomy were rapidly eroded.
Eras where the meta is prohibitively expensive tech such as cavalry, chariots, or air power favor aristocrats and plutocrats in those societies where state capacity is lacking, so you get feudalism or something like it instead of citizen republics.
“A combination of atomization, urbanization, and political nationalization mean the average American’s control over their own government is lower than ever. But, much like with the fraudulently autonomous poleis of Hellenistic Greece, the ghost has (mostly) gone out of American self-government. A combination of atomization, urbanization, and political nationalization mean the average American’s control over their own government is lower than ever. Americans see bad laws, bad ideas, bad policies, and bad social trends all over the place, but when any change of course requires taking control of a country of 340 million, what hope is there?”
One area where Americans do govern themselves is zoning, and they have messed it up pretty badly. One can think of other examples.
I think public choice theory is a better way to understand what makes good governance than morality tales. And I don’t see the evidence that local control necessarily leads to better outcomes. If the point is perceptions of control, then maybe we should give people that rather than the real thing.
Direct democracy, as structured in Switzerland (which, by the way, is different from California in important ways), works well. Why not just give the people the power in a form which actually seems to preserve economic freedom?
I don't think our current situation can be compared to the Hellenistic period. The cultural decline and loss of autonomy is the same, to be sure, but there are two significant differences between then and now.
First is that there is no 'Rome' in our age. The author mentions China as an ascendant power, but they have already entered into their own phase of decadence and decline. Their birth rate is actually lower than most Western countries, and the average citizen also has less autonomy. People are miserable, especially young people, and many are trying to leave through any way they can. Last time they tried to invade anyone (Vietnam in the 70s) they were trounced soundly. Even if Xi somehow achieves his ambition of Taking Taiwan, it will a pyrrhic victory. Although the America-based world culture is declining, there no nation rising up to replace it.
The second difference is Christianity. Though abandoned by the majority of the population in the West, its death has been greatly exaggerated. Jesus Christ, through the holy Spirit which indwells his people, is the salt which preserves civilization. Even a minority of faithful believers has an enlivening and preservative effect on the life of a nation. When Rome became decadent, it was Christianity which replaced it, and the civilization which resulted, despite challenges, has endured to this day. I hope and believe that faith in Jesus Christ will be the force that rises and fills in the void of our decedent and failing culture, and not only our culture, but many others - Christianity is quietly becoming the dominant faith in China too.
Excellent review. Thanks. My experience learning history was exactly like that. We met the Greeks, they conquered everything and then they reappeared as educated slaves in Rome…..
Polybius is the best.
Great review, thanks.