Of Distant Mirrors and Present Omens

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Once Italy had collected the bullion of conquered lands and grown rich on the robbery; now money was migrating to the more industrialized… provinces, and Italy grew poorer while the rising wealth of Asia Minor forced the replacement of Rome with an Eastern capital.” So wrote historians Will and Ariel Durant about “The Collapse of the Empire” in the third volume of their epic story of civilization. About two years ago, I pulled the volume off the shelf and blew away the dust, after watching the opening of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Reading those words, I felt as if I was gazing into a distant mirror (to borrow the title of another historian’s book). Thumbing through the Durants’ tome some more, I found this: “The necessity of defense exalted the power of arms and the prestige of soldiery; generals replaced philosophers on the throne, and the last reign of the aristocracy yielded to the revived rule of force.” I went to bed feeling a little troubled. I woke up, booted up, and learned from AOL that, while his wife was battling cancer and he was running for president of the United States, John Edwards was having an affair. This conjured a less distant mirror, recalling for me the impeachment of a president for lying about his dalliance with a White House intern a mere decade ago. Since then we’ve had more such scandals, involving Aaaarnold, Weiner the Whiner, and a disturbing number of others in public life. The Durants wrote of the notoriously immoral Emperor Caligula, “In [his] imperial frolic, government was an aside, and could usually be left to inferior minds.” So here I sit on a Saturday morning with visions of McCain and Obama, Edwards and Clinton, strutting around in their togas. They stroll together down the steps of the capitol and admire their own reflections in the pool. Here comes W from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, riding a charger, red cape draped across the stallion’s flanks, black plume flowing from his bronze helmet. And is that Hilary seated on a tiny barge, being rowed around the reflecting pool? As for former Governors Spitzer and Sanford, well, I guess I’d have them hanging from crosses in my Roman fantasy. Well, of course, 21st century America can’t be compared to ancient Rome without looking just that ridiculous. Twenty years ago, Yale Professor Paul Kennedy published “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers.” The dust jacket said it all: Great Britain stepping down, Uncle Sam standing on the pinnacle, but about to follow John Bull, and Japan stepping up. Where is Japan today? Nippon’s economy went into a Nineties tailspin from which it has yet to fully recover. Kennedy made a lot of money from his bestseller. All the same, he got it wrong. America once more looks like it’s in trouble. The U.S. has gone from being the world’s largest creditor to its largest debtor. The Iraq War, even if “won,” seems to have been an expensive blunder, if not an outright lie. And cynicism about the sincerity of our leaders appears to be well placed. Meanwhile, the Chinese reportedly spent $50 million to produce what was arguably the best opening ceremony ever. China holds something like half a trillion dollars of America’s debt before the 2009 bailout bill was passed, and our trade deficit with the Chinese is a yawning abyss. The summer of 2011 saw an embarrassing debate about a debt ceiling, ultimately raised, resulting in a downgrading of Uncle Sam’s credit worthiness. With a national debt that was trebled during W’s disastrous reign, we are in debt to the rising Chinese superpower even more deeply. Last but not least, the less prudish among us will point out that Clinton and Edwards, Arnold and Weiner, Spitzer and Sanford are far from the first politicians, American or otherwise, to stray from their marriage vows. The more sophisticated might add that when a French or Italian president does worse, his constituents simply yawn or smile knowingly. Still, I’m troubled by the venality, selfishness, and egoism of so many of our alleged leaders. Nero, Caligula… what do they have on some of our own?