Comparing Ancient Rome and America

             Everything that has a beginning has an end. This phrase, used to advertise the third installment of The Matrix series, also applies to civilizations. Rome, which legend tells us began with Romulus and Reemus, is no longer, so therefore it must have ended. But that makes us wonder what brought such a powerful civilization down. It could have been a number of things, such as money problems or the corruptness of humankind. Those two things are happening in the United States today,whether it be the 87 million dollar military grant, the gang violence, or the thieving of the most recent presidential election. The current state of America is starting to seem a lot like the fall of Rome, one of the most powerful civilizations to date, much as America is. .
             So why exactly did Rome fall? That is uncertain. However, there are a few guesses at the answer. Maybe one is correct. Maybe it is a combination of a few or all of them. Regardless, they follow: political corruption, the decline of morals and values, military spending, inflation, inferior technology, and public health. Starting with political corruption, in the ancient days or Rome there were multitudes of bribes concerning election and getting people to vote for a bill. Also, a specific incident would be the famous assassination of Julius Caesar by Brutus. The decline of moral and values is demonstrated in the facts that there were large drinking parties where most people would get hopelessly drunk, and there were around 30,000 prostitutes roaming the streets. With the money issue, Augustus and Septimius both spent exorbitant amounts of money on the military, and there was less gold and more copper in coins, so they were worth less. Rome all suffered by not spending money on developing new technology. They could have used better harvesting machines and better weapons so that they could match or be above their opponents technologically.