Roman Solutions
What would the Romans, in the days of their glory, have done about the Houthis firing on their ships?
They would have invaded and laid waste to the land. The Roman Solution was always uncompromising force toward necessary goals. When attacked, you either attack back or give license to others to attack you again in more intense ways. This is the common sense approach to interpersonal relationships.
At our high school we had a notorious bully. He would harass people to the point of breaking down. One of our group realized that the only way to stop this was to get in some hits. He just attacked suddenly, did some damage, and then got pounded nearly flat, but the bully left him alone after that; unpleasant consequences lay that way.
The Romans understood that every group acts in its own interest. Every interaction is transactional. If you do not raise the cost for failure to cooperate, people will become bullies and try to subvert you. This was common knowledge in the ancient era.
Modernity, arising with Christianity and democracy, wanted to limit Roman Solutions, so it imposed “morality” on types of actions rather than goals. It hoped to control goals by limiting methods, a classic means-over-ends gambit. This was designed to remove the Roman methods that some people found alarming.
For example, the Roman Solutions department had no limitations on murder; the Christians and democrats did. To the Romans, if someone needed to be stopped, you used “any means necessary” and got the right result. Under the new rules, you could not murder, and so the bad guy did not get stopped unless the Church or Law intervened.
This form of method-based society fits into the rubric of Control. Its goal is to alter thinking by banning methods and, in doing so, make a complacent population that can be periodically punished in order to demonstrate Control. In retrospect, the Roman Solutions were more transparent and humanitarian.
As we entered this Age of Symbolism, we were promised that Control would make us safer and happier. Instead we live in a dystopian world where the bad get away with their crimes and the good find themselves hands-tied, mired in endless committee meetings and compromises.
Liberal democracy is winding down. Worldwide, it is in crisis and falling apart. All of its policies have failed and become burdensome. None of its promises have come true. We are entering again an age of Roman Solutions, and first in the crosshairs are those who benefit from Control and its manipulations
