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It's popular in some circles to say that we're going down the same drain that doomed the Roman Empire. "They" usually mean that Rome was corrupt and we're corrupt and if we don't mend our corrupt ways, then we're doomed! It's a little higher class than carrying a sign in Times Square reading, "The End Is Near!!" But not much.
A significant fact that most doomsayers seem to ignore is that during the most of the centuries that Rome was declining, it was run with an iron fist by Christians. When Rome was managed by an insiders club of good ol' boys, they were doing pretty well.
Nevertheless, "Those who choose to ignore history are condemned to repeat it." (A near quote of George Santayana.) So it's worthwhile to ask the question, "Just why did Rome fall?"
A theory that you don't hear quite as much as the "corruption" idea is that Rome died of lead poisoning. It goes something like this.
As Rome developed more services for it's citizens, they used lead to make their lives more comfortable. They painted their walls with lead based paint. They used lead pipes to bring water to their homes. They sealed their wine bottles with lead. They used lead for cosmetics, cups, and even coffins (which decayed and inevitably leached into the ground water).
And lead was used significantly more by the upper classes than the lower classes because only the upper classes could afford many of these comforts. The end result was that upper classes suffered more of the health problems which included low reproductive rates and, well, insanity. Need we mention Caligula who appointed his horse to the Roman Senate?
Nothing like that could affect us, of course. We're banishing lead from our lives. You haven't been able to buy lead based paint for decades and we've even removed it from gasoline.
But maybe there is something else? Remember, the Romans didn't understand what lead was doing to them at the time. If someone had told them, they probably would have refused to believe it.
In responding to a recent MSNBC article, I wrote, "Consider meat. Not only do they shoot those poor animals with every type and description of chemicals (to increase their profit margin, not to improve the animal's health), but the food they eat (grass, alfalfa, what's left over from slaughtering others of their kind) contains even worse chemicals because it's sprayed to kill insects and weeds for more profit. And, when the animal is slaughtered, it has just been run through a terrifying process and it's own endocrine system has flooded it's tissues with more chemicals. Eating that stuff (can/does?) make you crazy! Something that might account for much of what you see in politics these days."
Could this actually account for the rise of conservative thought in America? Is the religion of guns due to an excess of adrenaline in McBurgers? Is this why vegetarians (I'm one, by the way.) tend to be left wing? (I'm one of those, too!)
But we might not have quite as much of a problem as Rome had. Caligula appointed his horse to the Senate. So far, the Tea Party is only managing to get the back half into our Senate.
