We know how this story will end

Surely, this is all just a bad dream — the daily onslaught of national deterioration at the hands of the Joe Biden administration.

If only that were true.

But it is real, and this is no exaggeration: We are all participants — unwilling and willing — in the disintegration of the greatest democratic republic in the history of the world.

Just look at these four charts. The message is resounding: Our federal government is a disaster, and the people running it are ruining the nation we love.

What’s more, how can anyone refute that we are in the midst of a second Civil War?

This time, it is not a war between the states. It is a war of beliefs — between delusional socialists who want complete power over our lives and ordinary Americans who want liberty; who want to be left alone to live in peace, work and raise their families; and who believe, as Jefferson stated, in “the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,” namely:

“That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

It is a war of coercion versus liberty.

None of us knows what specific events, tragedies and triumphs are to occur as this war continues to unfold. It’s probably safe to invoke the bromide: Things are going to get worse before they get better.

And even though many harbor fear of the unknown and believe that nothing like this has ever occurred before, we can say with certainty that history contains the outcome of this war.

The socialists’ utopian dream will collapse, and they will lose. But the devastation they cause will be enormous and criminal.

Their ignorance is maddening. These antagonists — the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama and all their sycophants — refuse to acknowledge that what they are doing has occurred many times before and in many places. And each time, the outcomes have been the same: death, destruction, misery and servitude.

It’s all there — documented and recorded, almost from the beginning of time. Rome. France. Germany. Soviet Union. Great Britain. It is so shameful the lessons of these nations’ socialist experiences are not taught in depth in our schools.

Lawrence Reed, former president of the Foundation for Economic Education, made a splendid contribution to this history in a simple, 12-page booklet he authored in 2015: “Are We Rome?” He infers the story of the fall of Rome to what is happening in the U.S.

At the start, Reed quotes Roman historian Livy, who lived from 59 B.C. to 4 A.D.: “There is an exceptionally beneficial and fruitful advantage to be derived from the study of the past. There you see, set in the clear light of historical truth, examples of every possible type. From these you can select for yourself and your country what to imitate, and also what, as being mischievous in its inception and disastrous in its consequences, you should avoid.”

Reed’s booklet should be required reading for all Americans. Perhaps you can share it with your children and grandchildren to inspire them to turn the tide and never let this happen again.

A few excerpts are worth quoting:

“(The Romans) took liberty to new heights. … The liberties they achieved were made possible, and sustained for centuries, by traits of character on which liberty always depends: courage, hard work, personal independence, and self-reliance.

“Rome’s remarkable achievements in sanitation, education, banking, architecture, and commerce are legendary. … With low taxes and tariffs, free trade and considerable private property, Rome became the center of the world’s wealth. All this disappeared, however, by the fifth century A.D.; when it was gone, the world was plunged into darkness and despair, slavery and poverty.

“Why did Rome decline and fall? … In the early days of greatness, Romans regarded themselves as their chief source of income. By that I mean each individual looked to himself — what he could acquire voluntarily in the marketplace — as the source of his livelihood. Rome’s decline began when the people discovered another source of income: the political process — the State. In short, it was a character issue.

“When Romans abandoned self-responsibility and self-reliance, and began to vote themselves benefits, to use government to rob Peter and pay Paul, to put their hands into other people’s pockets, to envy and covet the productive and their wealth, they turned down a fateful, destructive path. As the late Dr. Howard E. Kershner put it, ‘When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.’”

Reed wrote how “Rome suffered the bane of all welfare states — inflation

“Roman coinage was debased by one emperor after another to pay for expensive programs. Once almost pure silver, the denarius, by the year 300, was little more than a piece of junk containing less than 5% silver.

“Prices skyrocketed and savings vanished. Businessmen were vilified even as government continued its spendthrift ways. Price controls further ravaged a battered and shrinking private economy. By 476 A.D., when barbarians wiped the empire from the map, Rome had committed moral and economic suicide.

“Romans first lost their character. Then, as a consequence, they lost their liberties — and ultimately their civilization.”

We are seeing signs of resistance to the fall of the American empire — moms at school board meetings, pilots refusing the vaccination mandate. But it will take much more. Silence, we all know, will not stop it.