That’s a hell of a narrative, from the 1950’s, about the 1700s. What are you using it for?
decency and decadence are similarly narrative… where are we going on this ride?
And you lost me entirely.
Fun story. What are you saying? maybe use fewer dated allusions, and maybe don’t put the dozens and dozens of colonies with people from around the world into one box in terms of ‘what motivated Americans’.
The penis mightier than the /s word? 
I see you are not a fan of history.
Let’s start with the “founding Fathers” and their love of the Roman republic. You do know that they formed the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783? Many of their writings point to the Romans as a sort of glorious age of representation, with the senate and res publica.
Now, let’s fast forward to the golden age of Hollywood, where movies up to and including Gladiator have the emperor as a decadent tyrant, and the good heroes fighting to restore the senate. This narrative did not emerge in a vacuum, but the soil it grew from is a part of Americana. No more tyrants, and so on.
As for the reference to the bodyguards selling the office to the highest bidder, this refers to how the Praetorian Guards actually did do this, killing one emperor and letting everyone know they would give the title to the one who gave them the biggest bribe.
There is a difference between America’s perception of itself and the reality of its role in the world.
But I’d argue that neither the Romans or their successors are the appropriate model. Twentieth century America was a recreation of the Delian League.
Yes, of course. My focus here was more on the internal perception, but also on the whole “Romans and Barbarians” kerfuffle form earlier.
And why isn’t the Ottoman Empire considered to be an extension of the Roman Empire? Mehmed II claimed the title of Kayser-i Rûm, and the title had changed between families and religions before 1453.
I used the accepted date of the fall of the Roman Empire in my earlier comment, but there is an argument that it only ended 95 years ago.
The emperor was Alexios IV Angelos, an unpopular emperor who didn’t pay his contractors and caused religious tensions in his realm.
Why does this sound familiar?
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