[Ahldagor]

Originally Posted by Patriam1066 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Andrew Jackson was more authoritarian than Trump. So was Lincoln. Both had more power and loyalty of the other portions of the state. Jackson, for instance, had the army and a lot of popular support so he could simply ignore the SCOTUS. Trump is being challenged by the judicial branch. That won't last after he stacks the court, of course, but given his popularity, he might have a hostile or at least heavily divided legislature by 2018.

The people sanguine about the demise of the US are getting ahead of themselves. The people lamenting our decline are right but not in the way they think. Our government is alive and well unfortunately. The federal government is fine. The culture, however, is eroding fast.

"As noted earlier, what had essentially extricated the Roman Empire from the 'crisis' of the mid-third century was the ruthless commitment to the ideology of the empire by members of the Roman army's officer corps. Over the course of the fifth century, by contrast, the Western Empire came increasingly to rely upon outsiders whose loyalty and commitment were not to Rome but rather to their own..."

-Peter Sarris

Y'all see any ruthless commitment lately? I don't even see people who can resist a Big Mac

Agreed about the culture. How many people have made the connection that Lady Gaga's lyrics are embodied by President Trump? Personally, I enjoy watching all of this unfold.