Tony Dale fills in for Bill Frady, discussing historical parallels and politics.

What this episode covers

"Well howdy! I am so jazzed to be back here, and I'm happy for Bill Frady finally taking some time off—that guy is a hardworking fellow, and I'm honored to sit in his chair. It's got kind of a vibe to it, you know what I'm saying? Anyway, so if you would like to interact today, of course you can do that by texting on the Common Sense Retirement Planning text line at 800-905-0989. However, there's also the option of communicating verbally, which I just love, on the Ingles Market talk line at 800-905-0989. Same thing, same thing. Okay, so let me start today, if I might, with some thoughts that are observational on where we are as a country and a culture at 250 years. I had such a good reaction when I shared Alexander Tytler—the Scottish historian's comments on the cycles of history—on Monday, that I wanted to dig out something else. And I'm going to share this, actually, from my father's book, Cracker Barrel Comments. Some of you may know my dad was literally one of the very first radio talk show hosts. He sort of just cooked it up back in the late '40s, early '50s, long while Rush Limbaugh and I were in diapers. Dad was doing live talk radio in Texas. And he went on to become quite the iconic legend in this, but he also wrote a newspaper column and a book, which are a compilation of his columns. But one of them I thought worth sharing today—I think it's very applicable—called 'Repeating History': 'I can't recall who said it, but I surely do know the meaning of it today: If a people fail to learn the lessons that history teaches, they will suffer the penalty of repeating history.' So back in 1788, Edward Gibbon wrote a monumental work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and he listed five reasons for the fall of Rome: First, the rapid increase of divorce—the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. Second, higher and higher taxes, and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. Thirdly, the mad craze for pleasure—sports becoming ever more exciting, ever more brutal. Four, the building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was in fact within: the decadence of the people. And fifth, the decay of religion—faith fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and becoming impotent as a guide for the people. So, look around. Now keep in mind, Dad wrote this in, what, the late '70s. So think how it's progressed since he wrote this. Look around: 50% of marriages end in divorce—it's more than that now. The home in America is a unit of strength? Taxes, though, have now reached the breaking point, and our elected officials throw money away to buy votes. One look at a football, basketball, or hockey game, and it's like the Coliseum of Rome. And today, we are contemplating—now think of this, this was 1970s—we're contemplating a trillion-dollar budget on military hardware. It's ten times more than that now. He went on to say religion has become so watered down that it has little meaning. So, are there lessons for us today? Well, those five reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire sound as if they were written today. In fact, our world might really end not with a bang, but a whimper. I put this out there as we look at what's happening in the world at the moment. And I defy you to tell me that we are not treading the same path that Rome and cultures that followed have done and fallen, at our 250th anniversary. How much time do I have left, John? About three minutes? Okay, I got time for this. So I'm going to share another thought. Neither is this one mine, but it's one of the great thinkers of our time, Victor Davis Hanson—I love it. You know, he's one of the few commentators that Rush Limbaugh would read on the air. But he said something interesting; he wrote a piece called 'Progressive Regression of the New Medievalism.' So let's think of it in terms of history repeating. The West has mastered the technology of civilization, but embr ...

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