Editor,

What’s wrong with America today? Because the educational system in this country has failed to teach history, we are bound to repeat it. Let’s compare the United States to ancient Rome, which dominated the Mediterranean area for more than 450 years.

Just like the U.S. today, Rome was attacked by outside forces, but more importantly, it was crumbling from within because of severe financial crises just like our $18 trillion debt. The Democrats want to increase the taxes on the 1 percent of the richest in this country, like Rome did. Back then, as now, oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor. To avoid taxation, the wealthiest of Romans fled the city. Today, the wealthiest are moving their companies to foreign countries.

In the fifth century, Vandals asserted themselves in North Africa and began disrupting the empire’s trade. Today, it’s China, which is stealing our trade secrets and undermining our economy. With its economy faltering and its commercial production in decline, the Roman Empire began to lose its grip on Europe. Today, we are losing our grip on manufacturing to Mexico and other countries, causing massive job loss.

Rome’s sheer size made it difficult to govern, with ineffective and inconsistent leadership serving to increase the problem. The U.S. government is enormous, and the Democrats want to make it even larger. The government is already burdensome with agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, pouring out regulations that are negatively impacting our lives and the ability of small businesses to survive.

Only 9 percent of Americans think Congress is doing a good job because of its failure to temper the president’s excessive disregard of the separation of powers. The American people believe there is widespread corruption and incompetence within Congress because of members’ relationship with lobbyists. Civic pride is lost, and the American people have lost trust in their leadership.

Rome’s military was the envy of the ancient world; just as the U.S. military has been in the past. Today, our military is not feared by our enemies. As the Roman army declined, so did Rome’s power. Today, we see the decline of our military. The president is cutting the Army by 40,000, with possible additional cuts of 30,000. Our military will face depleted readiness, chronic modernization problems and deteriorating morale, as the

Army’s manpower will be the lowest that the Army has seen since 1940.

The United States is only 238 years old. Will it go the way of the Roman Empire so soon?

Len Calderone
Midway