The End of the Dream
7th January 2012
Baron Bodissey is not optimistic.
Yes, the fantasy is coming to an end. The political and cultural leaders of Europe, North America, and Australia share the same dream. Those at the highest levels of government and business generally view themselves as a trans-national ruling class with no great attachment to any single nation or people. Their collective dream is one of global governance — presided over by themselves, of course — propped up by a financial system that keeps power in the hands of the oligarchs who run it, and prevents any serious irruption from “the mutable, rank-scented many” beneath.
The fall of a system as extensive, wealthy, powerful, and well-entrenched as ours will be catastrophic in scope. Rather than the end of the Third Reich, the fall of the Roman Empire provides an event of comparable historical significance.
The fall of Rome was a slow-motion process that took place over several centuries, even though it appeared rapid in hindsight a millennium later. The collapse of the Westphalian Order may occur more suddenly, given the existence of instantaneous worldwide communication networks. Alternatively, we may be in for a gradual descent into poverty, social degradation, and disorder, followed by the emergence of a new order whose form cannot yet be imagined.
I predict that it will be ugly indeed.
January 8th, 2012 at 17:48
The Fall of the Roman Empire was, in fact, due to the depradations of their nominally Christian brethren of the Fourth Crusade. Had the Franks not sacked Constantinople, the empire might still be alive today.
So much for the Moral Lesson we should all take to heart about the Dissolution and Corruption which led to the empire’s demise…