Rome and Carthage

Yesterday I wrote about Athens and Sparta, last night and part of this early morning I thought better of the two extremes, we are not in a contest between Athens and Sparta. Looking at the classical period I am left thinking about Rome and Carthage. I think we are both, Carthage was founded as a colony, in the way that Mahan wrote about American imperialism Athens was like that with Carthage. We too were founded by a mother country or father country depending on your view of England. Carthage located in North Africa was founded to be supplier for the goods that Athens never could produce. Rome was founded as a Republic, that later grew into an empire. My conservative minded friends might deny imperialism in this country but lets be honest we have become an empire. I would also add our imperialism is not just military. I have written in grad school about the nature of cultural imperialism. This aspect of imperialism interests me greatly. We know the mega entertainment corporations that have spread across the globe. Hollywood is known throughout the globe, Disney, and other houses of entertainment. In England and the rest of Europe American football is becoming popular. We have exported our gladiators. Cuba of all places loves baseball, sports I consider the mega entertainment complex. When we are not exporting tools of war, entertainment, our new opiate of the masses, is being imported with American celebrities doing endorsements across the globe. During the Korean war young men from Korea wanted to look like Americans. Our ideal man has been exported and much of the ideal of masculinity has been exported as well. Our exports is also unbalanced with the exception of arms we are importing more than we export. Movies and guns are not enough to grow a country. We are sowing seeds of a global mass of confusion. So we are both Carthage and Rome. When the two see each other as threats then the real battle of the soul of what it means to be the United States will occur. You see it in the shadows. <a href="https://medium.com/@davidlmcmillan/rome-and-carthage-c04e0b250f51">Learn More</a>