EconAir

Roman Legion Why Study Rome? Americans have focused on comparisons between Rome and America twice in American history.  The first time was during the period from before the Revolution to after the ratification of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, when the founding fathers and others looked to the Roman Republic for ideas and inspiration on how to structure the new government. After the American Revolution, the founding fathers, having read the Roman authors detailing the collapse of the Roman republic, worried about internal threats to the survival of their new republic.   The second time was when the United States became a superpower, especially after WWII, and then again after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Commentators compared America to the Roman Empire at the height of its power. There was some discussion about how America became a permanent warfare state and how it affected domestic democracy and civil society. ...

OK, who do you fear more, big government or big business?   Historically, Americans saw a relatively small government with regulatory powers as a check on monopoly and big business.  But the rise of big government because of the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, and the Great Society changed that.  Americans had a choice.  There was a general consensus that we had to spend a lot of money for national and international security during the Cold War.  But the expansion of the social welfare state and environmental regulations changed attitudes towards the federal government.  The two largest programs of the social welfare state, Social Security and Medicare, have been financed by very large tax increases. These tax increases are somewhat offset by federal income tax cuts.   Since the 1980s, there has been a well-financed campaign to roll back the regulation of big business, espe...