America: Are We Modern Romans Headed for Collapse?

It’s often said that Rome wasn’t built in a day… and that’s true. But it also didn’t collapse in a day. The reasons for its fall were influenced by certain political decisions, unavoidable events, and socio-cultural shifts.

THE FIVE FACTORS THAT ERODED ANCIENT ROME

1. UNEXPECTED PLAGUES. Between 165 and 252 AD, millions of Romans died from deadly viruses, including three of their emperors. One of the plagues wiped out a third of the Roman population.

2. UNRESTRAINED AND OPEN BORDERS. While the Chinese were building their “Great Wall,” Rome allowed refugees and immigrants to enter freely and overwhelmed their system. The historian Will Durant commented: “if [Rome] had occasionally closed her gates to let assimilation catch up with infiltration, she might have gained new racial and literary vitality from the infusion, and might have remained a Roman Rome, the voice and citadel of the West.”

3. LOSS OF NATIONAL CULTURE AND LANGUAGE. Initially, immigrants into the Roman Empire adopted the Latin language, but eventually, newcomers kept their own native tongues. This forced Romans to learn immigrant dialects and to adopt foreign customs, holidays, and traditions. The idea of being “Roman” and living “Roman” was eventually lost.

4. ENTITLEMENTS AND WELFARE. In the early second century AD, Roman politicians distributed free grain, wine, bread, and hosted public circuses to gain political favor. The violence of these circuses desensitized the populace, distracted the ignorant, and placated the self-absorbed, concealing the leaders’ true political intentions. Eventually, entitled Romans surrendered their freedoms in exchange for food and entertainment.

5. LOSS OF VIRTUE AND INCREASE IN VICE. As the Roman Empire aged, its culture deteriorated into theft, greed, violence, deceit, sexual immorality, gluttony, injustice, and infidelity. The 5th-century historian Salvian observed: “What hope can there be for the Romans when the barbarians are more pure than they?”

WHEN IN ROME…

With these factors at play, additional vices further bankrupted the Roman Empire, including sex trafficking, slavery, pornography, homosexuality, and divorce. As a result, Roman families had fewer children, crime skyrocketed, and litigation became commonplace in Roman culture.

As Roman cities declined, land ownership shrank, benefiting the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Debt and taxes soared to fund welfare and construction, deepening inequality. Imports overtook exports, devaluing currency and triggering inflation.

The Catholic Church became more isolated, reducing its role in government and culture as corruption rose. Politicians ignored the constitution for personal gain, while continual warfare distracted people from Rome’s internal issues.

Roman patriotism waned over decades, as new generations became less willing to defend the empire. Durant wrote: “The new generation, having inherited world mastery, had no time or inclination to defend it; that readiness for war which had characterized the Roman landowner disappeared.”

As Rome’s military weakened, attacks increased inside and outside Italy. In the mid-5th century, Attila the Hun killed millions across Europe, Africa, and Persia, but failed to seize Rome.

NO PLACE LIKE ROME…OR AMERICA.

Rome was sacked twice—by the Visigoths in 410 AD and the Vandals in 455 AD. Its final fall on September 4, 476 AD marked the end of a great empire, offering a lasting lesson to future societies.

At 249 years old, America is a young nation. The 20th century, known as “the American century,” showcased our influence in war, economics, arts, and culture, inspiring global democratic shifts and the collapse of communism.

However, following Rome’s path may lead to a similar downfall. Enemies have long sought to undermine the “American experiment”—a democratic republic with biblical foundations. Historically, Islam has stood as a major rival to Christianity.

The 9/11 attacks dramatically changed America by targeting its economic and military centers. In the last 25 years, the country’s moral and spiritual base has weakened, replaced by division and lost shared values. Younger generations are largely unfamiliar with the nation’s former identity.

Christianity, once integral to American society, is now ridiculed. Schools and media promote partisan views, and calls to “reimagine” America often lead to further division. Although the atmosphere is less divisive than during the peak of the Biden administration’s ‘cancel culture,’ strong forces still attempt to erase national history.

NINE CULTURAL LOSSES THAT HAVE WEAKENED AMERICA

Like Rome, America seems vulnerable and in decline, with each decade since World War II bringing notable cultural losses.

1940s: the LOSS OF TRUST. From the secrecy surrounding the atomic bombs to the arrival of new technology that brought the world into our living rooms—television—America’s trust began to crack.

1950s: the LOSS OF INNOCENCE. The decade of Ike was relatively uneventful until new, dark, and surprisingly welcomed influences emerged—from Playboy magazine to rock ‘n’ roll music to James Dean’s “Rebel Without a Cause.” It became clear that America was not as innocent as “Father Knows Best” suggested.

1960s: the LOSS OF AUTHORITY. Elvis’s lip curl and growl kicked off a decade of rock ‘n’ roll rebellion targeting America’s core institutions—schools, churches, homes, capitalism, and the military. Authority was mocked, and society fought against norms, religion, politics, and family hypocrisy. Police were called pigs, schools faced protests, and draft cards and bras were burned. Slogans like “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” “Get high,” and “Make Love Not War” swept the era.

1970s: the LOSS OF MORALITY. The attack on America’s institutions created a moral vacuum, leading to the ME Decade. Stadium rock, disco, and punk flourished, epitomized by KISS, Elton John, and the Sex Pistols. The Sexual Revolution brought gays and lesbians out, abortion was legalized, and designer drugs trended.

1980s: the LOSS OF FAITH. The Reagan era brought optimism for many, but underlying issues surfaced. The aftermath of the 60s and 70s free love ushered in AIDS, while drug epidemics spurred the ‘Just Say No’ campaign. MTV and cable introduced explicit content to homes. Megachurches and televangelism, later tainted by scandals, fostered isolation among Christians. Many Americans turned to new diverse spiritual paths, from New Age and Wicca to Buddhism, agnosticism, and atheism.

1990s: the LOSS OF RESPECT. In the ’90s, President Clinton’s affair and denial made the Oval Office a late-night joke. Music genres like hip hop, rap, grunge, and heavy metal highlighted rebellion and disrespect. NC-17 ratings, sagging jeans, backward caps, tattoos, piercings, and frequent profanity on TV became symbols of the era’s disregard for traditional respect.

2000s: the LOSS OF SECURITY. April 20, 1999: Columbine High School—16 dead, 23 injured. Two years later, terrorists struck on September 11, 2001, killing 2,977 at the Twin Towers and Pentagon. This led to America’s longest war, the War on Terror. Sometimes terror was different: Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 killed 1,392 people, and the Great Recession (2007-2009) caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, homes, and retirement savings—everything once considered secure.

2010s: the LOSS OF TRUTH. By the time Barack Obama took office in 2008, smartphones and the rise of social media like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube made reliable information harder to discern—anyone could say anything, and many believed it. Obama’s presidency marked the Age of the Echo Chamber: Americans consumed only media that reinforced their beliefs, dismissing others as fake news. By 2020, COVID-19 and the George Floyd protests further obscured the truth.

Which brings me to the 2020s. What have we lost in this decade? Or is it too early to tell?

AMERICA’S IDENTITY CRISIS

This issue has been debated for years, especially as transgender identities gained rapid visibility compared to the slower acceptance of homosexuality. Transgender topics now sit at the heart of America’s identity debates.

OUR IDENTITY.

The changing definition of gender parallels broader shifts in the national identity, especially as immigration and demographic changes accelerate. Some communities have seen increased numbers of non-English speaking immigrants, impacting local schools and cultures.

Certain cities, like Minneapolis and Dearborn, MI, now have large Muslim populations, which some say maintain distinct religious and political identities rather than fully assimilating. These shifts raise concerns among some about the erosion of a unified American identity.

Many argue recent immigrants are less focused on full cultural integration, instead preserving their own customs and forming isolated communities.

It was this loss of identity that struck at the very core of the Roman Empire, and America finds ourselves in a similar situation today.

In many ways, we’re just modern Romans. And we are ripe for the picking…very ripe.