Crossing the Rubicon

Image credit: “Scream” quote by poet Jasmin Kaur, IG: @jusmun

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Truth be told, History was my next-to-least favorite class in secondary school. PE was the absolute worst, hands-down, but History was next in line. Granted, in History class I didn’t get picked last for races and never feared for my safety like I did with dodgeball, kickball, and Red Rover. History teachers didn’t make me run a mile in the Texas heat, while wearing an uncomfortable & ill-fitting gym uniform without a sports bra (which hadn’t yet come into the mainstream back then).

Where was I? Ah, yes … I do recall that my World Cultures class in 6^th grade was interesting, but the only other History class that I can vaguely remember from middle school was dreadfully boring, and I honestly cannot think back to any such class in high school – not even a History teacher. I’m fairly sure I took the subject, but my brain didn’t process it as worth archiving, I suppose. In college, I strategically took my two required History gen eds in a summer semester and a mini-mester term to get them over with.

It wasn’t until I returned to school many years later as a grad student that I started connecting the dots between historical milestones and modern-day political issues, and that piqued my interest. History finally became more than rote memorization; it became something that mattered.

My hubby is a big history buff (opposites attract, amiright?? LOL), and we often talk about current issues and historical significances – which I really enjoy, believe it or not. Earlier today, I shared with him that I often wonder / worry about how (if??) the US can ever come back from the current path under Chief Cheeto 2.0. He made an analogy to Julius Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon River, and the pieces began connecting in my mind ... I wonder if, in 49 BC, the average Roman realized that they were at a critical turning point in world history. Did any of them speculate that the days of the Roman Republic were numbered, and the Roman Empire would be the next phase of their civilization?

I reckon not.

Most long-term civilizations have a centralized autocratic style of rule, rather than a community of representative citizen-leaders who try to keep powermongers at bay through systematic checks & balances. It’s easier to rule with an iron fist than it is to engage the populace. Even those of us who skirted by in History class remember talk of the “fall of Rome.” Yet, such sweeping changes don’t typically happen overnight.

From what I’ve read, the Roman Republic lasted from 509 BC to 27 BC, which is about 482 years. Here in the US, we’ve had not quite 250 years. Yet, in just the past 152 days since the inauguration, consider what atrocities have already transpired! I read an interesting article earlier today that suggested eight reasons why Rome fell; the piece is linked below, but let’s look at the reasons and see if any of them feel familiar:

1. Foreign intervention

2. Labor shortages

3. Internal division

4. Military overspending

5. Political corruption

6. Cultivating internal enemies

7. Religious indoctrination

8. Mercenaries, not soldiers

I don’t know about you, but it reads awfully like the daily news to me. Perhaps this is why we refer to this country’s political founding as the “American experiment”?

Perhaps 2025 is our Rubicon crossing, after all.

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References & further reading

National Geographic. Rome’s Transition from Republic to Empire. Retrieved from: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/romes-transition-republic-empire/

Andrews, E. (Jan. 14, 2014.) 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell. Retrieved from: https://www.history.com/articles/8-reasons-why-rome-fell