en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/655757 Comments by PurpleMountain http://buchanan.org/blog/is-america-coming-apart-2159#IDComment33998518 (cont.) Thomas Maccaulay wrote to Henry Randall in 1857; "“I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization or both. In Europe, where the population is dense, the effect of such institutions would be almost instantaneous …Either the poor would plunder the rich, and civilization would perish; or order and prosperity would be saved by a strong military government and liberty would perish.” He went on to say about America “Either some Caesar or a Napoleon will seize the reigns of government with a strong hand; or your republic will be fearfully plundered and laid waste by barbarians in the 20th century as the Roman Empire was in the Fifth - with this difference - that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your country by your own institutions.” Was old Thomas prescient, or what? Picture me with my hand visoring my eyes as I look to the horizon hoping to see Caesar on the march. Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:12:00 +0000 http://buchanan.org/blog/is-america-coming-apart-2159#IDComment33998518 http://buchanan.org/blog/is-america-coming-apart-2159#IDComment33998356 Love ya, Pat, but you're a little slow on this one. You need to get out more. My buddies and I have been speculating on where the new lines should be drawn on the map for a few years now. What stops it from coming completely unhinged? Well, the ugly spectre of another Civil War, for one thing. My sons dead? My house burned? My country gone? No one wants that, but it seems inevitable now. We're living in the past. The United States of America exists only in our hearts now, in our dreams, in our nostalgic pinings for "the old days." The reality is that we'vre been several nations for some time. It's starting to come to blood already, in isolated small incidents; fingers being bitten off, people at rallies being attacked and beaten. All sides are filled with a virulent hatred that can't be put back in the bottle. I have relatives I no longer speak to, family gatherings are missing folks we once laughed and toasted with. Nope. I don't know how it will end, but when people today ask me how to invest in these terrible days, I tell them to buy food, guns, and ammo. Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:11:42 +0000 http://buchanan.org/blog/is-america-coming-apart-2159#IDComment33998356