Thread: IS AMERICA BECOMING ANOTHER ROME? by Congressman Ted Poe

1605 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 202.225.6565
Fax: 202.225.5547

IS AMERICA BECOMING ANOTHER ROME? -- (House of Representatives - July 20, 2006)

Mr. Speaker, this Hall that we work in every day is lined with 23 marble busts of great lawgivers that influenced American law. We have Hammurabi, Gaius, Justinian, Napoleon and, of course, Moses over here in the very center. But one of those people you won't see up there is Caesar Flavius Valens.

Let me take you back 1,642 years, Mr. Speaker, and let's talk about a little bit of history. Caesar Valens controlled the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire at this time in the year 364 wasn't just Italy. It controlled all the area to the Balkans, the Mediterranean coastline, including North Africa, France, and even Spain and part of what is now England; and the Caesar of the Roman Empire at this time was Flavius Valens. He controlled basically the eastern part of the empire.

And while he is Caesar, the barbarian nation of the Goths to his northeast started coming toward the Roman Empire. The reason was because the Huns, another barbarian group, had taken over the Goths' land and moved them toward the Roman Empire. So they migrated toward the Roman Empire, and at the time that this occurred, they came on the border.

They were led by a person that was supposedly a friend of Rome, his name was Fritigern, King of the Goths, and he asked permission to come into Rome with some the Goths.

Normally the Roman Government would not allow this, to have a state within a state; but, you see, Valens needed more people to be in his army and he needed more workers in the Empire of Rome. So he granted permission for some of the Goths to come in legally. But when the crossing started, the Roman Government didn't have enough border guards to control entry, and so massive waves of Goths came into the Roman Empire.

What started out as a controlled entry mushroomed into a massive influx. Several hundreds of thousands came across the Roman Empire.

But the Goths did not take the oath to support the emperor. They did not assimilate. They did not become Roman. And a few years later, this state within a state revolted and internal war started.

It culminated at the Battle of Adrianople. Most Americans don't know where that is, but that is a place over in that area. It was the Waterloo for Valens. And the Goths and other barbarian groups assembled and took to the field. Of course, one of the Goth leaders was a person by the name of Fritigern, this supposed friend of Rome.

The battle ensued and the Goths, with their large confederation, engaged the Roman cavalry. The Roman cavalry left. The Roman infantry was annihilated. Over two-thirds of these thousands of legionnaires were murdered, and Valens, of course was killed.

I have a coin of Valens, it is about 1,600 years old. He is not on our wall. I just have this coin of him, and just his head, because that was all that remained of him after the Goths executed him, cut his head off, put it on a stake and marched around the Goth camp.

Rome negotiated with all Goths and allowed them permanent status on Roman soil, and historians say this is one reason for the eventual fall of Rome, to allow a state to come into their state and refuse to make them assimilate. And in 410, the Goths sacked the City of Rome.

History speaks for itself, Mr. Speaker. Failure to control illegal entry into a country causes some problems, and we are not talking about legal entry. We are talking about illegal entry. And it encourages a state within a state. And when people come illegally to a nation and refuse to take allegiance to that country, start sending money to another nation and they don't even learn the language, is America asking for trouble? Is America becoming just another Rome?

Mr. Speaker, there are many reasons for the fall of Rome, but one of those reasons is simply the failure to control who came into their nation. I think the analogy is obvious.

And that's just the way it is.

For other great speeches and writings from Congressman Poe go to:

http://www.house.gov/poe/remarks/july06/rome07-20.htm

Ted Poe, I have watched this man, he is very very good! He should make a run for Tx governor, instead of those characters they have running now!

I have heard this story and we all know history repeats itself. I do believe this is happening here and now and our leaders (??) and people better wise up quick.
Good for Ted Poe.

Poe is terrific, but if he's not going to be in Congress looking out for our interests there, I'd prefer to have him run for President of Texas.

"Rome fell in a day".

Dixie

Interesting site on the fall of Rome:

http://killeenroos.com/1/Romefall.htm

Originally Posted by jean

Interesting site on the fall of Rome:

http://killeenroos.com/1/Romefall.htm

Interesting, but the one thing it misses is the fact that the number of actual Romans in the Roman army had dwindled to the point that it was almost entirely made up of barbarian mercenaries. Even the Roman general Stilcho, who was long the only thing standing between Alaric (a Goth king who followed Frithigaern a couple of decades later) and Rome, was half-barbarian.

It is difficult to maintain a loyal army when the army is largely of a different ethnicity and heritage.

Primarily, though, Rome declined because the true seat of power was moved closer to the crossroads of the world in Anatolia. Rome became a backwater city midway down a long peninsula with a mountain range between itself and most of the rest of the civilized world. The relative isolation that had earlier allowed Rome to grow into a serious naval power capable of defeating the Carthaginian Phoenicians and dominate the Mediterranean became a hindrance as civilization pushed northward and inland.

It is difficult to maintain a loyal army when the army is largely of a different ethnicity and heritage.

Same with society eh?

Originally Posted by jean

It is difficult to maintain a loyal army when the army is largely of a different ethnicity and heritage.

Same with society eh?

Really like Ted Poe. Have listened to him a few times on C-Span.