Very interesting parallels indeed. Time will tell if the accelerating moral decay of America will wash up against a religious revival that sweeps it away. The only empire 'made great again' according to VDH was Byzantium by Justinian, and that only temporarily. Reagan and Thatcher were modern echoes. But it may be that our wealth, ease, and atheism (in that order) have doomed democracy in the west.
Thanks for the kind words. I'm hoping it won't come to that. But hope is not a solution.
Leo Strauss has a great passage on this theme in what is political philosophy in the essay "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero". He's hopeful there that nature will asset itself and that there will be men who will reject this final tyranny. Page 130.
Very interesting parallels indeed. Time will tell if the accelerating moral decay of America will wash up against a religious revival that sweeps it away. The only empire 'made great again' according to VDH was Byzantium by Justinian, and that only temporarily. Reagan and Thatcher were modern echoes. But it may be that our wealth, ease, and atheism (in that order) have doomed democracy in the west.
Beautiful analysis, I enjoyed this very much when it was published in Asylum magazine.
I'm glad, BP!
Thanks for the kind words. I'm hoping it won't come to that. But hope is not a solution.
Leo Strauss has a great passage on this theme in what is political philosophy in the essay "Restatement on Xenophon's Hiero". He's hopeful there that nature will asset itself and that there will be men who will reject this final tyranny. Page 130.