So, who's a Republican here?

[stoffi]

Nay! Rome always had power struggles, civil wars, rebellions and invasion and yet they conquered their know world. Only with the break up of family values did they start to fall.

I'll comment on the rest later, but what you're writing here is completely wrong. What turned it all was when Marius and Sulla made soldiers loyal to themselves instead of Rome and that was from there on out the main way to wage war, thus creating a lot of generals with armies who wanted to rule.

There are a lot of factors that led to the downfall of Rome, corruption, greed, largescale barbarian invasions, civil wars, the loss of the free peasant class in favour of big land lords with slaves, letting "barbarians" become the army of Rome, going from a conquering nation to a defending nation, armies loyal to generals rather than Rome, inflation, poverty, the disruption of cities because the rich moved to the countryside to get away from taxation, less trade(this was probably more of a result of some of the above). The break up of family values is not something any historians mention and the Romans still had the family unit at the end, as they had in the beginning.
As you see, there is no single reason why Rome fell.

But if you have something which you think I should read, feel free to show me. :) I am always eager to read more history, especially about Rome.

[~IceMan~]

republican here

[Landro]

Watch and be amazed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q30c...5&feature=plcp
Santorum just says he doesn't care about unemployment. Why? My guess is that he thinks unemployed people have more time to pray..........

[flutterby]

Santorum has been an idiot for decades, I dislike him more than any of the Bush presidents. Then again,
I'm from PA.

[Landro]

Santorum has been an idiot for decades, I dislike him more than any of the Bush presidents. Then again,
I'm from PA.

More retarded than Santorum are the people voting for him. If he wins, he might not even get all the Republicans behind him and the undecided voters aren't exactly fond of him. That would give Obama a free ride for a 2nd term.

[Azartyn]

If Mitt Romney is liberal, then I'm santa. He's a Mormon Bishop, you don't get them more religiously fanatic. He believes single moms shouldn't keep babies.

God, guns and gays are the key words of this nomination. Not economy, poverty and foreign policy, as any sensible candidate would focus on. Because yeah, US economy is fekked, there's tens of millions poor people plus "trailer trash", and foreign policy is extremely vital to a country which acts as a kind of world police

Then you obviously don't know as much about as American politics as you think you do. Romney is very liberal. He's been campaigning for 8 years now and still cant secure the republican nomination because of this. Whether you all want to believe it or not the US is a center RIGHT country.

Obama does not want to debate Gingrich because Newt will wipe the floor with Obama. Obama has no ideas of his own other than the socialist ones his puppet masters feed him(see Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank who wrote the $800b stimulus boondoggle). Hell he used a teleprompter to speak to a group of 4th graders. The manchild is in WAY over his head.

Newt, while SoH had 4 years of a balanced budget and reformed welfare. That is why the "elites" don't like him. He is hard nosed and gets things done.

As far as gay marriage, abortion etc, that has no place in the government anyway BUT...there should not be US tax dollars to pay for those things or companies/churches/colleges forced to pay for them if it is against their religious beliefs.

Also, you people who keep calling this a democracy need to go back to school. We are a representative republic where the people call the shots. Its just got so corrupted that we need to fire them all and get some people with morals in there who actually do what their constituents want and not what the lobbyists do.

Again, people like you who watch MSNBC/CNN really need to get a clue.

[Palem]

lol @ any of the republican candidates being remotely qualified to take out Obama.

I don't know the republican party just has such a knack for finding incredibly bad presidential nominees. The only one that actually has a shot at beating Obama is Ron Paul and the republican party refuses to back him.

[Azartyn]

Can anybody tell me what the Americans think about Ron Paul?

In the past i got the idea he would be a great guy with his realistic look at the economy, but over here in Europe main stream media won't talk about him.
So my opinion is based on small fragments on youtube containing discussions from the past regarding the economy.

Wolf, His economic policies are spot on. Abolish the IRS(tax agency) and go to a flat tax (say 15% for EVERYONE), Audit the Federal Reserve who controls our economy but isn't even part of the government. However, in his foreign policies he's a little nutty. Some of them I agree with, like the US not playing world police but others not so much.

[DHaran]

Then you obviously don't know as much about as American politics as you think you do. Romney is very liberal. He's been campaigning for 8 years now and still cant secure the republican nomination because of this. Whether you all want to believe it or not the US is a center RIGHT country.

Obama does not want to debate Gingrich because Newt will wipe the floor with Obama. Obama has no ideas of his own other than the socialist ones his puppet masters feed him(see Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank who wrote the $800b stimulus boondoggle). Hell he used a teleprompter to speak to a group of 4th graders. The manchild is in WAY over his head.

Newt, while SoH had 4 years of a balanced budget and reformed welfare. That is why the "elites" don't like him. He is hard nosed and gets things done.

As far as gay marriage, abortion etc, that has no place in the government anyway BUT...there should not be US tax dollars to pay for those things or companies/churches/colleges forced to pay for them if it is against their religious beliefs.

Also, you people who keep calling this a democracy need to go back to school. We are a representative republic where the people call the shots. Its just got so corrupted that we need to fire them all and get some people with morals in there who actually do what their constituents want and not what the lobbyists do.

Again, people like you who watch MSNBC/CNN really need to get a clue.

I lol'd at this. Heartily.

[Azartyn]

lol @ any of the republican candidates being remotely qualified to take out Obama.

I don't know the republican party just has such a knack for finding incredibly bad presidential nominees. The only one that actually has a shot at beating Obama is Ron Paul and the republican party refuses to back him.

Palem, unfortunately you are mistaken...Obama has a 41% approval rating right now and its only going to get worse because of his economic policies and gas hitting $4-$5 a gallon. In 3 years he's added more to the national debt then Bush did fighting two wars in 8 years. Sorry you liberals, but facts are facts. The US is a center right country and once the nomination is decided the Republican will beat Obama.

Palem, let me ask you this...Why is Obama so unbeatable? His unemployment is at 9.1%, actually like 15% if you take the REAL numbers (U6). The 8.3% is because somehow 2.5 million jobs just vanished from the work force. He's added $5 Trillion to the national debt in 3 years. Gas prices when he took office were 1.88/gal now they over $4. They just release a closer estimate of what the Healthcare bill will cost. Originally it was $950b, now the CBO sent out a report that it will cost $2.7 Trillion...Oh and in that we pay for 10 years and only get 6 years of coverage.

The man was a junior senator(first term), has never held a real job/run a business in his life. How can you say he has experience? The only thing he has experience in is community organizing...aka socialism.

[Azartyn]

I lol'd at this. Heartily.

If you laughed so heartily then prove me wrong you little troll.

Romney ...Romneycare was the foundation for Obamacare you ignorant troll. Secondly Romney thinks a judge has the right to grant a minor an abortion over her parents.

Here's an idea DHaran, unless you have facts or can offer a debate...stop trolling and adding to your post count.
But I get it...you love your socialism because you're lazy and want other people to pay for you which is why you love the power of being moderator...those that arent in your circle you can silence. Typical little communist.

[Palem]

Palem, let me ask you this...Why is Obama so unbeatable?

Simple, his competition is pathetic. I don't necessarily consider myself a democrat or republican or anything really, I just see the gov't for what it is. A very broken, inefficient system.


For the record, you need to stop watching Fox News so much.

[Azartyn]

More retarded than Santorum are the people voting for him. If he wins, he might not even get all the Republicans behind him and the undecided voters aren't exactly fond of him. That would give Obama a free ride for a 2nd term.

If this is true, then why is Santorum winning primaries and narrowing losing the ones he is? hmmmm makes you think doesn't it?

[Azartyn]

Simple, his competition is pathetic. I don't necessarily consider myself a democrat or republican or anything really, I just see the gov't for what it is. A very broken, inefficient system.


For the record, you need to stop watching Fox News so much.

For the record, Newt would wipe the floor with Obama. I dont particularly care for his morals but as far as experience and track record, Obama don't have anywhere near the experience Newt does.

I don't watch only fox...I watch other channels and read many articles/books. I just happen to be much older and know more facts then most people on here who think they know more. Unfortunately, they weren't born when most of these people running for president held office.

but I will agree with you on the very broken inefficient system.

His competition pathetic? What has Obama done that qualifies him to be president?
Here's a little tidbit I bet you didn't know about Obama. While in the Illinois senate, he voted to allow a Dr to kill a baby that was born if the dr failed the abortion.

[Landro]

I keep shaking my head every time an American says universal health care is a bad thing. I'm Dutch and here, everybody has to have health care. Let me explain why this is a good thing.

Let's take for example a person with an inflamed appendix. He has 3 options
1. Go to your general practitioner/hospital as soon as possible. Getting surgery before it bursts gives you the best chance for survival. Recovery time in the hospital will be short. This means the overall cost will low. When I had my appendix removed I only had to spend 2 days in a hospital before they released me.
2. Wait a little before visiting a doctor. Getting surgery after your appendix has burst is a bad thing. You can survive this but your chances are less than good. I know a guy who survived this but spent more than a month in a hospital bed. Needless to say this is very expensive.
3. Don't see a doctor and die in agony. (yes, this costs nothing except for a funeral)

The beauty of it all is that when I needed life-saving surgery, I didn't have to hesitate about whether I could afford it or not. I just let the professionals do their job. I never saw the bill. My healthcare insurance took care of everything without even letting me know what it cost. That's a really good thing.

On the other hand, I see the occasional story about Americans having to beg their friends/relatives or hold a charity auction to pay their medical bill and all I can do is be ashamed that people in a prosperous modern western society have to degrade themselves just to pay their medical bills.