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Our Golden Age
We media types obsess about America’s problems.
But we should acknowledge that today, life in America is better than life has been anywhere, ever.
For most of history, the norm was hunger, disease, illiteracy, slavery and war.
There were a few exceptions (from some of those problems)—so-called golden ages, Ancient Athens, Rome, the Renaissance, etc.
In our new video, historian Johan Norberg, author of the new book “Peak Human,” looks at the miracle of the Roman Empire, which at one point extended throughout most of Europe, and parts of Africa and Asia.
Ancient Rome inspired our form of government, a republic with a system of checks and balances.
“There is a reason why we have a senate and they meet in the capitol,” explains Norberg. “We borrow these ideas from the Romans.”
The Romans were ferocious warriors, but so were many at the time. The Romans were able to create an empire because they tried new things:
“They gave people among the subjected the ability to have a second career in Rome,” says Norberg. “They made them citizens and allowed them to do business, to have a career in the military. Some of the subjected people could even end up being emperors!”
“The conquered—some became emperors?” I ask.
“The son of a freed slave eventually ended up on the throne of Rome. That tells you something about the power of meritocracy and of openness. You’ll get the best brains if you’re open to more people.”
Rome thrived because the Romans took ideas and talent from all over the world.
They didn’t do it to be kind.
“Tolerance was a weapon, often literally a weapon,” Norberg explains. “They got their swords from the Spaniards, ships from Carthage, new business models from other groups. Because Rome was such a huge integrated free trade area, you could source the best material, the best technology from any part of the empire. Therefore, they could become the masters of the world.”
Of course, eventually, Rome fell.
There were many reasons. Disease, barbarian invaders, and one reason that modern societies should fear: entitlement spending.
Norberg says Rome collapsed because of:
“Bread and circuses. The emperors wanted to become popular by handing out free stuff to people. Originally, this started small. You just handed the very poor means of subsistence. But it was popular, so the group that lived on the public’s expense grew larger all the time. Emperors complained about this. Everyone from Caesar and onwards said, ‘We’ve got to reform this system because it means that we have fewer people working and more people consuming.’ But no one succeeded.”
It reminds me of the unsustainable promises we see today: Social Security and Medicare in the U.S., absurd retirement promises in other countries—welfare plans going broke.
“Once you have an ever-expanding system of entitlements that you can’t afford,” says Norberg, “that’s often the beginning of the decline and fall … Romans could conquer the world, but they couldn’t do entitlement reform.”
Instead, Roman emperors did what modern governments do: printed more money.
Actually, since they used coins, not paper money, they devalued their currency by putting less gold and silver in each coin.
“Inflation was much worse than barbarian invaders,” says Norberg. “The emperor blamed greedy businessmen—something that we hear today. He imposed price controls on 1,000 goods. But obviously, it all failed. Prices kept rising and undermined the Roman Empire completely.”
Today, America is one of the richest and most inventive countries in the world. Will our “golden age” continue?
“One of the most worrying signs in history is you begin to take wealth and comfort for granted,” says Norberg. “You forget what made it possible to begin with. I see a lot of worrying signs right now. We have a backlash against things that keep our society innovative, like trade, migration, unsustainable debts … But that doesn’t mean that we’re doomed … It’s not automatic, this decline and fall phase. You can unleash new waves of innovation and progress. There is still time. We can still save this golden age.”
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