MUCH IS MADE OF AMERICAN "DECLINE"....AND MANY ANALOGIES ARE DRAWN TO THE FALL OF ROME IN ANCIENT TIMES...
BUT A MORE RECENT HISTORICAL EXAMPLE COULD BETTER BE DRAWN FROM THE PARTITION OF POLAND IN THE 1770'S....
POLAND WAS A COMMONWEALTH AND RELATIVELY "DEMOCRATIC" FOR MOST OF ITS HISTORY... AND IT'S "DEMOCRATIC" TENDENCIES LEAD IT TO DISINTEGRATE INTO VARIOUS COMPETING INTERESTS...NONE OF WHICH COULD ACTUALLY "RULE"...
EVENTUALLY ALL WERE WORKING AGAINST THE OTHER...TO THE ADVANTAGE OF OUTSIDE POWERS.
FINALLY, POLAND WAS PUSHED INTO MANY ALLIANCES THAT "REQUIRED" IT TO ENGAGE IN ILL-ADVISED "OPTIONAL" WARS ... WHICH IT COULD NOT WIN...
EVENTUALLY BANKRUPTCY ENSUED...AND THE POLISH STATE BECAME A PUPPET OF THE POWERS THAT SURROUNDED IT...
THESE POWERS FINALLY DECIDED TO SIMPLY DIVIDE POLAND UP ...BY 1795... POLAND CEASED TO EXIST FOR OVER 100 YEARS...
TO BE SURE THE ANALOGY BETWEEN AMERICA TODAY AND POLAND IN THE 1770'S IS NOT ABSOLUTE...
BUT IT DOES SHOW WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN DEMOCRACY GOES AWRY...AND OUTSIDERS START SETTING THE AGENDA...AS ISRAEL DOES IN AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY...AND INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL IN THE US ECONOMY.
SOME DEMOCRACIES BECOME SO DYSFUNCTIONAL THAT THEY REALLY FALL APART...
ESPECIALLY SO WHEN THE "ELITES" GIVE UP...AND START ACTING ONLY IN THEIR PRIVATE INTEREST...AND NOT FOR THE NATIONAL BENEFIT...
SOUND LIKE ANYONE WE KNOW...?
