Decline and Fall . . .

Rome and the West

It has been argued that Western states have become vastly corrupt enterprises.  This allegation refers not in the first instance to the activities of criminal gangs, nor to the presence of crime to one degree or other. Rather, it addresses the nature of the state itself.  But even here the reference is not to isolated corrupt government ministers nor bureaucratic functionaries--though doubtless there are some.  As has been observed the fact that in some Western countries lifer politicians can enter office impecunious and depart multi-millionaires, wealthy way beyond the cumulative salary they have drawn from the public coffers over the years, suggests their office has been misused to their own pecuniary advantage.  But, once, again, most of these instances of corruption in the West are exceptions, not the rule. 

The endemic corruption in most Western states refers to the system itself.  The Western state has become a vast redistribution enterprise, wherein an increasing number of citizens not only benefit from, but owe their continued existence to, the doles and bribes of politicians. 

It is normal to regard a politician or his bureaucrats who sell favour or influence to this individual or that business enterprise (in exchange for favours) as corrupt. But Western democracies themselves have become corrupt, as politicians vie to gain the support of voters by promising doles, services, and favours--and voters sell their votes accordingly.
  What is necessary to good government, law and order, peace, and defence as well as justice and integrity in both civil and criminal courts has been replaced by a focus upon what "gummint" can do for me.  Modern secular democracies have been transformed by citizens and political parties who believe it is the fundamental duty of governments to offer bribes and that it is normal for suffrage to be queered by the bribes on offer. 

We believe that democratic forms of government always tend towards this kind of corruption (as do all other systems of government in their own way).  But, democratic corruption is not inevitable.  It can only succeed when voters themselves are already corrupt in heart.  In a democracy, politicians can win the vote by offering bribes only if a majority of people are already corrupt and willing to entertain bribes from those competing for their support.  A righteous people would register outrage and offence at all attempts to bribe the electorate.  But without such intrinsic righteous, wrought only by the Spirit of God Himself, Western democracies will disintegrate over time, becoming progressively more corrupt, requiring that their ruling councils suborn the vote by offering more and more and more, all funded by someone else's property. 

The dissolution of the Roman Empire provides some similarities.  We do not suggest that the Roman state was equivalent to a modern democracy--although, of course, there were democratic aspects to the Roman Imperial system.  But, like all governments, in the final analysis, continued existence of a system of government depends upon willing and complicit support of the population.  Rome realised this and the Imperium soon worked out that bribes kept the population compliant.  It is at this point that modern Western democracies have become remarkably similar to Rome in the days of its decline.   

Rome, more than any other city-state of antiquity, was essentially an agrarian state.  The foundation of her power and of her very existence was the peasant-soldier citizen.  The lands of the Latin farmers grouped in strategic positions all over Italy, and those of the Roman citizens concentrated in the best land of central Italy, gave the Roman power a broader basis than any other ancient state possessed and profoundly differentiated the Roman legion from the mercenary armies of the Hellenistic states.  The peasant religion, the peasant economy, and the peasant morale underlie all the characteristic achievements of the republican epoch. 

But with the conquest of the Mediterranean all this was changed.  A progressive degeneration and transformation of the characteristic Roman types took place.  The fundamental peasant-soldier-citizen gave way--as farmer to the slave--as soldier to the professional--as citizen to the vast urban proletariat living on Government doles and the bribes of politicians.  So, too, the noble began to give place to the millionaire, and the magistrate to the military adventurer.  Rome became more and more a predatory state that lived by war and plunder, and exhausted her own strength with that of her victims.  The republic slowly foundered amidst massacres and counter massacres, slave wars and a continual growth of political and financial corruption. 

It was only by the genius and persistence of Augustus that Rome regained some hold on her traditions.  And even Augustus failed to cure the fundamental malady of the Roman state, though he well realized its importance.  He could not restore the citizen farmer in place of the slave, nor could he cope with the cosmopolitan urban development of the city of Rome itself.  The great cosmopolitan city of gold and marble, the successor of Alexandria and Antioch, had nothing in common with the old capital of the rural Latin state.  It served no social function, it was an end in itself, and its population drawn from every nation under heaven existed mainly to draw their Government doles, and to attend the free spectacles with which the Government provided them.  It was a vast, useless burden on the back of the empire which broke at last under the increasing strain. [Christopher Dawson, Progress and Religion: An Historical Enquiry (London: Sheed and Ward, 1945),  p. 213f. Emphasis, ours.]

Modern Western democracies are vastly corrupt, which former ages would judge to be hopelessly criminal, beyond redemption.  Christians would agree, but with this qualification: we are not without hope.  Whilst God alone can change human hearts, replacing native corruption with His righteousness, it is also true that every Western democracy will eventually be discipled by Christ Himself.  When eighty percent of the population fear God, heaven will not help the politician who attempts to bribe the voters.  Then the only sustainable and true foundation for democratic forms of government will emerge--to much joy and celebration all around. 

Therefore, we Christians will persist in redoubling our service and effort as long as days and breath abide, because we are called to be merry warriors delighting in the coming of His glorious Kingdom.