en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/803375 Comments by CalRep http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/19/the-new-fascists-foundation-part-2/#IDComment58294259 Was this a high school term paper? Were is the supporting evidence for all of your claims? Did Socrates really believe that a god crawled under every rock or events occurred because a god had initiated that event? Constantine did not establish Christianity as the sole religion in the empire...he stopped the persecution of the Christians. Contrary to Hollywood portrayal, the Romans were not a hedonistic people. The Eastern Roman empire was slowly whittled down and it lasted 1000 years after Constantine. But, what about the western portion of the empire? Why didn't it last 200 years? If Christianity failed the Western Roman Empire then why did Harald feel the need to compel his subjects to convert to Christianity more than 500 years after the West's failure? And, there is also a great deal of debate among historians about the role that Harald played in the spread of Christianity to his territories. What moral code and separate God separated the Christians from the Jews? If the Romans wanted one God then why didn't they adopt the Jewish religion? What was the single unifying powerful message of Christianity? Or, does each reader get to assume what that message is and fall right into line? And, precisely, what was wrong with having a god for everything under the sun? It worked well for "thousands of years". What all of suddenly precipitated the need for change? Oh, human nature. Again the reader is left to nod his head in sympathy. If having a single God is so important, then what is wrong with Islam? Strange how wars seemed to occur even before Christianity was "invented". When did the priest-kings lose their power? Why did clashes suddenly happen between religion and the rulers when the first rulers were the priests? Wasn't religion invented to control people? All of a sudden, the People divided into factions because of religion? Why did the USSR and Germany go to war? How do factory jobs offer more freedom? In fact, many slave holding American Southerners insisted that the life of a black slave on a plantation was actually better than that of a white man (or woman or child) in a Northern factory. Or, is that claim a simple rationalization on the part of the slave holder? But, is it freedom to have to wait for your street to be plowed out during a snow storm so that you can get to work in the middle of the winter? George Washington certainly never panicked when a snow storm hit Mount Vernon in February. Still, religion supposedly was useful in controlling people. How, we don't know, but that one powerful message seems to have been forgotten and the elite suddenly need a new method for controlling the masses. How do they do that? Simply by replacing one religion, Christianity, with another, Socialism. Stupid people. They fall for it all the time. The American people did not want to escape the tyranny of the monarchy. They wanted to escape the tyranny of Parliament. They appealed to King George for relief from parliament's acts. When, the king turned a deaf ear to them then they revolted. They weren't attempting to form a new government. They were trying to restore the existing government. The Roman Republic had laws and an unwritten Constitution similar to Americas. Rome had a Senate, the US has a Senate. Rome had two consuls. The US has a president and vice-president. The Romans had term limits for consuls. The Americans belatedly added term limits to the president. The fact the US has two houses of Congress is because it was a compromise between the populous and less populous states. The US Supreme Court usurped power for itself and became an equal branch of government as a result. Funny how when "society was changing" it was OK for society to throw off the oppressive priests but now when society is changing it is no longer OK to overthrow the oppressive Constitution. Conservatives have turned the Constitution into their Bible...and quite deliberately on the part of the Founders. And, they'll accept no dissent or apostasy. Heretics will be burned at the stake. Talk about the Dark Ages. If the Constitution was so great then it should stand on its own merits. It wouldn't have to be shoved down the people's throats. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:24:35 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/19/the-new-fascists-foundation-part-2/#IDComment58294259 http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/19/the-new-fascists-foundation-part-2/#IDComment58290626 Japan has lasted. Great Britain has lasted. If you mean by lasting, conquering neighboring countries then the US has lasted. However, the US borders are only 50 years old. If you go back 50 years, many, many other countries have lasted longer...even France. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:36:50 +0000 http://bigjournalism.com/jhudnall/2010/02/19/the-new-fascists-foundation-part-2/#IDComment58290626