“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Historian Will Durant
I don’t mean to imply, by the title of this article, that I think America is about to totally “destroy” itself. I happen to believe that the United States, in some shape, form, or fashion, will be around for a long time into the future. I don’t know what shape, form, or fashion that will be; indeed, America has already monumentally changed, since 1789, from the virtuous, limited, constitutional government (a “confederacy,” Alexander Hamilton called it), into a society with a dominant federal government that does whatever it can get away with. In effect, we have become, in a way, exactly what our Founding Fathers rebelled against.
But time changes many things, and countries are among those things. 500 years ago (1526), England existed, and had a rather autocratic king (Henry VIII). Well, England has certainly altered; it still has a king, who now has no power, but rather has an autocratic national government that has more power than Henry VIII ever dreamed of. I’m not sure Britain is in better shape now than it was under the Tudors. Countries change; a few disappear (Babylon, Assyria, Medo-Persia), but some are still around—Rome, Greece, China, Egypt. Geez, Egypt has been here for 5,000 years now. With major changes, obviously. But, still here.
And I think the United States will survive, too, though again, I don’t know what we will be like 500 years from now. I’m not a prophet. We are a powerful country (still) and powerful countries (usually) don’t disappear rapidly.
The changes come, and sometimes they are monumental. Rome is a city now, not an empire. What will America become? Your guess is as good as mine.
As per the Will Durant quote at the beginning of this column, Rome and America (will be) “conquered,” changed, first by internal forces, then (perhaps) by external ones. The barbarians were never strong enough to militarily defeat Rome until Rome first decimated itself from within. The barbarians whom the Democratic Party is trying to allow to conquer America now have only made the advancements they have made because of the self-destruction of the country’s once-powerful institutions, a self-destruction led by that Democratic Party. They want a different America, one with a totalitarian government they control. And, since 1776, they’ve gone a long way towards getting it.
So, how does a nation destroy itself? A few quotes from the past to enlighten us.
1. “If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within.” James Madison
This is basically a reiteration of the Durant quote. Madison said it 100 years before Durant did. They were both good historians. I just wanted the reader to know that Durant did not put himself out on a limb. History teaches what he, and Mr. Madison, affirmed. We’ll destroy ourselves before the Chinese or Mexicans or anybody else does.
2. “The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations…No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.” Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s basic premise, in his first statement, is substantiated in his last. A nation that goes into debt to fund its government borrows from future generations, thus impoverishing them. That is a crime of prodigious proportions, and one, of course, our current government is totally guilty of. It’s obscene to the nth degree. But we, the people, have let them do it.
Debt leads to poverty, and poverty leads to submission:
3. “The Hindus will never become submissive and obedient until they are reduced to poverty.” (attributed to the Sultan of Delhi, 5 Ala-ud-din Khalji, who reigned 1296–1316)
How many Americans (and non-Americans) are currently sucking off some government teat? Dependence is submission is slavery; we must do what they tell us to if we want our scraps to continue. It isn’t “freedom” to be dependent upon the government. But it’s what the government wants. It doesn’t happen overnight:
4. “I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” James Madison
The frog in the pot thing. It happens, we don’t know it’s happening, and, before we know it, our goose (frog) is cooked. We’re enslaved, and we wonder how in the world it occurred. America is in the midst of a revolution right now; the Democratic Party is seeing to that. We’ve already had two revolutions—one in 1776 that made us a free country, the second in 1861-65 that gave the federal government ultimate power in the land, a power that has continued to encroach ever since. The revolution the current Democratic Party is trying to accomplish will give the government totalitarian power—something it doesn’t have yet, but that the Marxist Democratic Party lusts for. Remember, according to Democrats, our rights come from government, not God. That is a perfect definition of totalitarian power, because any rights the government gives you, it can take away. And all of it arbitrarily.
5. “Armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.” James Madison
Can you say “Deep State” and “military-industrial complex”? RINOs are slaves to the military-industrial juggernaut, and Democrats (and most Republicans) are in bondage to the Deep State and want to see it perpetuated. Who pays for it? The American people. How? By loss of freedom. I.e., internal destruction of their once- free country.
What will America be in 2526—if the country even still exists? Well, it won’t be what it was in 1800. We destroyed that a long time ago, and we seemed determined to destroy whatever we’ve become since.
My substacks are a little unique. Not just current events, but history, our Founding Fathers, what America was meant to be, and Biblical exegesis. Check them out. “Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com), and “Mark It Down! Bible Substack” (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Follow me on “X”: @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, Whitewater, River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma, all available on Amazon.
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