Monday, January 16, 2012

When in Rome...

I was watching a program last night about Rome and was surprised to find out that they had a "Social Security" program called Bread and Circuses. What this consisted of was free bread and games for all citizens.

One of the points made was that anyone could become a citizen if they swore allegiance to the emperor. There was more to it than that, but this is the simple version. Not only were these citizens provided free food and entertainment, they were given nice places to live. All that was required of them was blind devotion.

As you might guess, some citizens put their free time to good use and thought of ways to add to their basic income. You know, like work for it? Many became wealthy and influential in their communities. While others sat back on their fat asses with their hands out saying "gimme".

So in a society where food, lodging and entertainment was a given, poverty set in and the gulf between the poor and the wealthy became an insurmountable gulf. And the people cried, "Gimme more".

Now...if you ask me, this is cutting a little too close to home. Is this what our government and Emperor Obama have in store for us? Remember, Rome, the first mega power in the world fell.

2 Comments:

Blogger Big Dave T said...

I've noticed parallels between the Roman Empire and present day society in the U.S. Wasn't another issue with Romans that ordinary citizens, rather than defend their own country, relied up their military? So they were overwhelmed by less civilized but more determined hordes?

Anonymous Debbie said...

Nankin,

You are such a sweet lady. :o)
Thank you so very much for purchasing my book and the wonderful review!

I appreciate it so much!

Dave is right--there's a big similarity between our nation and ancient Rome.

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