Another Nail in the Coffin of Excellence

Related Link » Decline of the Roman Empire
“Edward Gibbon famously placed the blame on a loss of civic virtue among the Roman citizens. They gradually entrusted the role of defending the Empire to barbarian mercenaries who eventually turned on them. Gibbon considered that Christianity had contributed to this, making the populace less interested in the worldly here-and-now and more willing to wait for the rewards of heaven. ‘The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight’, he wrote. ‘In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome’.”
— From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jacques-Louis David's 1784 painting The Oath of the Horatii,
illustrating a dramatic moment from Livy's history of Rome,
embodies eighteenth century ideas about civic virtue.

Yes, it was a historic vote on the restructuring of the Nation's health-care system in the House of Representatives today. But, as Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) said, "Just because it's historic doesn't mean it's good. It would be wise to listen to the American people. The American people have said 'no' to the ABC's of Pelosi-care."

You heard it here first: The decline and fall of American excellence got a major impetus today from this wholly partisan display of arrogance. The breathtaking disregard of all that has been meritorious about this great Nation of ours should never be forgotten by all those who mourn the loss.

Post #1,166 Another Nail in the Coffin of Excellence