Kind of a cheap shot, Bowze. I diss the Rightists for twisting everything back to their handful of hot-button themes; how can I not whack your nose with the rolled-up newspaper for doing the same?

That was a "high-concept" essay, and seemed basically sound (how can you miss when you speak in broad generalities?). It may be the antithesis (antidote) to the old maxim that "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Those old empires that fell lacked historical experience to recognize what was happening to them. Fitting the modern situation into a historical perspective is a useful exercize, if done right.

What do you think of the essay in that context?

--Robert