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Thereās a fascinating account on X called āCulture Critic.ā With over 1.5 million followersāand every one of them well deservedāthis account dishes out high-quality content, slick, incredible imagery, and some seriously compelling storytelling. But beyond the visuals and narratives, Culture Critic offers sharp commentary that links the past to the present. And if you donāt understand history, youāre bound to repeat itāand thatās exactly where we are right now.
Take, for instance, the comparison between the fall of Rome and whatās happening in the United States today. Just like Rome, this once-great, thriving āempireā now finds itself staring down the wrong end of a (woke) barrel. Thanks to a colossal failure in leadership, everything is careening down the wrong path, threatening to turn our greatness into a pile of forgotten ash.
READ MORE: Powerful update to our recent provocative Derek Chauvin pieceā¦
And while those critics who compare Rome to the USA may have a point, the story is more complex than that. History is full of unexpected twists, and sometimes a single plot twist can buy you precious time. President Trumpās recent victory feels like one of those twistsāa chance to hit pause before we go flying off the cliff’s edge. But thereās more to this story than just a few threads linking us to Ancient Rome. This is where Culture Critic comes in and shines. Yes, the parallels are there: high inflation, a senile, bumbling fake leader. But if only the problems were that easy to fix. The truth behind Romeās fall is far more serious and more difficult to fix. It wasnāt just famine, disease, or angry peasants that brought the empire to its knees. Those played a part, sureābut the real killer was low birth rates.
Sounds familiar? Sadly, thatās the exact crisis America is facing right now. And when you see these parallels line up, the real reason Rome fellāand whatās happening in the USA todayāis downright bone-chilling.
The fall of Rome is widely misunderstood.
It wasn’t invasion, disease or famine that truly brought it to its knees.
Rome collapsed because the birth rate didā¦ (thread) š§µ
As with many nations today, Rome had a long period of prosperity followed by a decline in birth rates. The same is true of urban populations throughout history…
Rome’s fertility problem was identified as early as 49 BC by Caesar, and Augustus later tried to encourage childbearing. Childlessness was especially common among the upper classes ā why?
They had become more concerned with status than family. No children to inherit your wealth meant you could use it instead to acquire status and influence. “Children were now luxuries which only the poor could afford.”
Wealthy women were having <2 children on average (as analysis of skeletons in Herculaneum has shown). That’s a huge problem when the replacement rate is 6+ due to infant mortality…
Abortions and infanticide were also rampant in the culture. Early Christianity pushed back by championing a pro-natal culture, though it remained a relatively small movement until the 4th century.
Augustus tried to fix things: the jus trium liberorum (“right of three children”) awarded privileges to citizens with 3 or more children. There were also tax penalties for the unmarried and childless ā for men over 25 and women over 20.
When the birth rate problem had spread to the agricultural classes by 100 AD, Trajan’s welfare program tried to stimulate the birth of freeborn men. But all such policies failed, as Tacitus later said, “so powerful were the attractions of a childless state…”
So, Rome stopped producing Romans. Low fertility combined with war and plagues meant so many farms in Italy were abandoned by 193 AD that Pertinax offered the land for free to anyone who would cultivate it.
Population decline was then exacerbated by the wars and plagues of the 3rd century crisis. As the Empire’s outward expansion ceased and its free population dwindled, emperors were forced to import more and more barbarians to sustain their armies.
When Romulus Augustulus was eventually deposed in 476 AD to mark the end of the Empire, it was by barbarians in his own ranks. Barbarian mercenaries by this point dominated the Roman army, and chose for themselves a new leader.
War and pestilence had much to do with the collapse, but Romans had outlived those horrors many times before. This time, Rome had eaten itself from within first. “No great nation is ever conquered until it has destroyed itself.”
Rome was the first city to reach 1 million people ā a feat not achieved again until 19th century London. Yet by 600 AD, fewer than 30,000 people were living in what was left of it…
Incredible, bone-chilling breakdown, right? You canāt read that account of history and not wonder if weāre reliving itābecause certain people are making sure we do.
The US is facing historically low birth rates, thanks to the skyrocketing cost of living and the leftās push to link āclimate changeā with having kidsāif you have kids, you must hate the planet. On top of that, weāve created a society where women are convinced that motherhood is a death sentence and something only racist “Christians” do.
And as a result, we’re facing down a Rome-like nightmare.
The U.S. fertility rate fell to just 1.6 children per woman in 2023. Itās the lowest figure in American history. America had fewer children born last year than in 1980, when we had 100 million fewer people.
Some of this is related to the continuing destruction of middle class livelihoods and the affordability crisis for young families, which Biden has exacerbated. But this didnāt start with Biden.
America is in a cultural death spiral. People have been sold a life script that emphasizes perpetually extended adolescence and aimless hedonism. Women have been told they can āhave it allā by not worrying about marriage or a family until they are 35 or even 40 ā or to just āhave it allā by not having a family at all.
Our leaders, meanwhile, treat Americans as fungible economic units, and think that itās far easier to replace the current generation with foreign migrants than to put in the effort having and raising our own children.
The future belongs to the people who show up for it. An America without children is an America without a future.
Charlie is right: America without children is an America without a future. Just look back at Ancient Rome for proof.
While weāre distracted by woke policies and Drag Queen Story Hours, the left is pushing the real narrative that will bring America to her knees: having kids is pointless, and youāre better off staying single and āfree.ā
The scary part? While weāre busy putting out all these little fires, the real raging bonfire is consuming everything we know and love.
Itās time to focus on what really matters, folks. We need another baby boomāand we need it fast, or we’re heading down a scary roadāone that leads straight to Ancient Rome.
We encourage you to check out the full “Rome” thread from Culture Criticātheyāve got some great graphs and imagery. Click here.
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