Rand Paul Likens Economic Decline To Fall Of Roman Empire, Warns Of 'A Day Of Reckoning' (VIDEO)

When Kentucky Republican Rand Paul took to the podium at a Tea Party rally in his home state Thursday night, the Senate hopeful compared the decline of the United States economy to the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Courier Journal reports:

"In the latter days of Rome, the economy was crumbling, the emperor ... would placate the mob with bread and circus -- food and entertainment to placate them since the economy was in shambles and dwindling around them," Paul told several hundred people gathered for the rally in a Bullitt County park.

"Now in our country, as our economy is in shambles, they give us Cash for Clunkers and a stimulus check and they tell us to go to the mall and spend your money and everything will be OK ... That's not how you become prosperous as an individual or a country," he told the crowd of supporters.

Following the remarks, Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton clarified that the Senate hopeful was analogizing the crumbling of ancient Rome to the modern-day economic downturn in the U.S. "He uses Rome as a metaphor to show that great nations can fall if they are not vigilant in protecting their traditions," Benton said.

At the Tea Party event, Paul also warned his audience that he expects the country will face "a day of reckoning" down the line. Ironically, the GOP hopeful used the same metaphor to describe the significance of his status as Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee back in May. On the eve of his primary victory, Paul said his win was a sign that "we are encountering a day of reckoning."

WATCH: Rand Paul Likens Economic Decline To Fall Of Roman Empire, Warns Of 'A Day Of Reckoning'

Comments

[Savanna]

01:27 PM on 07/08/2010

Oh God Heavens the Sky is falling, the Sky is Falling...hasn't he heard the bottom fell out long ago.
We are trying to rebuild, but it is going to take time given all the headaches that have been created over many years.

[Pumpsie]

09:56 PM on 07/07/2010

Paul may be a bit of a dunderhead but he's right about the "empire' thing. This may help: http://www.alternet.org/world/147428/america%27s_tragic_descent_into_empire/

[prthatrocks]

05:47 PM on 07/07/2010

What has 150 legs and 7 teeth? The front row at a Rand Paul Kentucky Tea Bagger Rally!

[mwechopeds]

06:10 PM on 07/06/2010

When the right talks about these economic catastrophes, they are referring to Social Security, Medicare, Any Govt pension, and any Govt. sponsored health care.

They think that all we have to do is eliminate all of these expenditures, then everything will be all right in America.

Of course, the millions cast into poverty and homelessness are irrelevant.

It is inevitable that we will be cast into a corporatist, 1984-like, rollerball society, where corporations run every aspect of our lives. A reality where the top 10% own everything, and the rest of us are just corporate scavengers or slaves.

And amazingly, the right wing is walking right into it, gleefully.

[MetalCanuck]

10:53 AM on 07/06/2010

Some people here are going to be surprised when he is proven right, the economy is finished, stop watching MSM, they are lying, there is and never was a recovery and Rand is right on the mark like it or not hippies.

[HowdyDoody]

11:07 AM on 07/06/2010

You must be really old...

[MetalCanuck]

11:35 AM on 07/06/2010

33

Not old yet, I say hippies because they are the ones who use the race card, white liberal hippies who purposefully take things out of context so they can use their fake weapon against Rand Paul. They think if they just scream racist often enough and loud enough they will get somewhere..luckily more people are not falling for the BS.

[MetalCanuck]

10:50 AM on 07/06/2010

Everything always has to be spun in a negative light at the end, oh well, I am glad he is going to win and stick it to the Race card wielding white liberal hippies who really don't know what they are talking about but think they do by what the see on MSM.

[Lucy1886]

04:52 PM on 07/06/2010

Okay...your writing is SOOO stereotypical that I can only conclude that you are a liberal pretending to be a narrow-minded conservative for satirical purposes. People do that on the internet all the time....it's fun trying to guess who they are.

Some liberals "play the race card" and many, many conservatives play the "racist card"....appealing to racism explicitly or just denying that there is any discrimination anymore. And libertarians.........HAH.......they SO CONVENIENTLY IGNORE all the ways that they LOVE BIG GOVERNMENT when they can get their grubby little fingers on government money and they are the first to complain when they don't get all the services they want from the government.

[Black Guy at Cornell]

10:22 AM on 07/06/2010

Oooh, we're falling just like the Roman Empire! It must be those lead pipes we're using.

What's that? Oh, we don't use lead pipes anymore? We never had Punic Wars? There are no more Ostrogoths? You must be getting your information from those liberal elitist Marxist college professors. I get my TRUTH from the source - Dreck...er, Beck University. No, that wasn't a Freudian slip.

[HowdyDoody]

11:10 AM on 07/06/2010

Fanned/faved!

[Amin Khad]

10:37 PM on 07/10/2010

I guess you don't understand the concept of an analogy.

[IzzyIdol]

01:10 PM on 07/11/2010

He understands the concept of analogy. He is crapping on the analogy itself. You have to understand what an analogy is to do that.

[werbenjagermanjensen]

09:55 AM on 07/06/2010

Rand is correct that the American empire is crumbling, but not in the way he thinks. Our half-hearted attempt to conquer the Middle East has failed, just as our previous adventures in Asia failed, but this time so ruinously that it's quite likely we'll never be able to try world conquest again. The problem is, it's one thing to claw your way to the top so you can mobilize U.S. military might to do your bidding, but it's quite another thing to use Americans to do the actual work of conquest and empire-building. We're just no good at it. We failed in Asia, and now we're failing in the Middle East.

Many generations have passed since the Westward movement conquered the Native Americans. That was all over by the time my ancestors landed on this continent. All they found was a land so big and rich that they never felt the need to go anyplace else. This is our empire. It doesn't matter how much oil there is in Iraq. In our hearts we really don't want it. And we really don't care how many communists there are in Korea or Vietnam or whether Afghanistan is run by the Taliban, the oil companies or the heroin warlords. We've got enough to deal with here.

[HowdyDoody]

11:13 AM on 07/06/2010

I heard Michael Moore yesterday talking about how much we're scraping for what oil is left. Going to 3 wars in the Middle East (includes Iraq I by Bush's daddy), drilling in more and more dangerous spots. It's been the great obsession of the right wing: Big cars and profligate living. No wonder we aren't a very happy society.

[fortressfountain]

09:18 AM on 07/06/2010

Do people really believe if the government cuts spending everyone will live happily ever after. No way they will just give the money away to illegals or the corporations.
One way to cut the deficit is to take half a salary and to pay your own health care costs out of pocket.
Funny, I do not see any of the politicans jumping to the plate for this one.
Want money for your grandchildren? Save. It is not up to me to raise everyone's children.

[HowdyDoody]

11:15 AM on 07/06/2010

Have you seen the pie chart about government spending? It's an eye opener. Defense is HUGE on the chart, and we can't seem to bring ourselves to cut anything.

The teabaggers want us to cut taxes AND balance the budget. I wish that would work out in my household. I could quit work and pay off all my bills, LOL.

[Lucy1886]

04:54 PM on 07/06/2010

And defense spending puts major profits into the pockets of the stockholders of those companies....it's not just the execs who benefit but the upper income folks who profit from the wars........

[IllinoisObama]

08:54 AM on 07/06/2010

I heard on NPR that he didn't get allowance growing up because his parents considered it a handout.
So I am curious- how did he pay for college and Med school.
Did his parents pay ? Did he get a grant?

PS I did not get an allowance either it was just expected that we all contribute to doing "chores"

[TobusRex]

07:37 AM on 07/06/2010

Rand sounds about as knowledgeable about the Fall of the Roman Empire as he does the Civil Rights Act, lol.

Seriously though, people as ignorant as the teabaggers have a hard enough time separating reality from fantasy, so they probably lap it up like mother's milk.

[David Reinke]

12:35 PM on 07/06/2010

Mr. Paul seems to have gotten his ancient history from Hollywood. What he does not know about ancient Rome, its politics and its economy would fill the Alexandrian Library.

Evoking the past, particularly the Roman Empire, may sound profound, but is usually reveals a profound misunderstanding of the time, the place, and the people.

Instead of watching Scott's Gladiator he should read Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell, or Parenti's The Assassination Of Julius Caesar.

[Amin Khad]

10:38 PM on 07/10/2010

Actually it's a perfectly appropriate analogy.

Rome over-extended its military, resorted to giving its peasants bread and circuses to prevent them from rebelling, and devalued its currency.

[Quackers]

11:58 PM on 07/05/2010

nicops said: tell me one thing the government does better than a private company where the private company is allowed to directly compete?”

First that comes to mind is Medicare. They have done a great job of delivering good care and pay out 96 cents to claims for every dollar they take in. The same service by private Medicare Advantage plans cost $1.15. to provide.

[agxphoto]

11:02 PM on 07/05/2010

I think Pat Robertson used this ploy on "The 700 Club" during every single day of the Reagan administration.

[Machiventa68]

11:00 PM on 07/05/2010

Rand Paul is not a bright, academically astute man. He's really just a dull young kid trying to get elected by drafting on his father's fame. His campaign is floundering so he's using the "Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire" imagery to mask his basic misunderstanding of economics and politics. This is the same genius that thinks the U. S. can build an underground electric fence along the entire Mexican border for about $20 million. That makes no sense.

Rand Paul may be qualified for something, but he is not ready to be a Senator.

[IllinoisObama]

08:56 AM on 07/06/2010

He really is not bright
He used his fathers name etc.to get where he is.

[sailor422]

09:20 AM on 07/06/2010

Sadly he can be as crazy as he wants to be here in KY and he will still get elected since he is a Republican. I didn't think we could produce a Senator nuttier than Bunning, but here you go. It's tough being a liberal in this state.

[elijah24]

10:13 AM on 07/06/2010

"Go west, young man"! Illinois is nice. I had the same problem in Indiana. Fortunately I have escaped to bluer pastures.

[DaveyDavey]

10:54 PM on 07/05/2010

The only thing we have to fear is Rand Paul himself.

[Amin Khad]

10:40 PM on 07/10/2010

Yes, cutting the deficit is so terrible. It's Rand and his calls for austerity and discipline you need to fear, not $1.7 deficits.

Your politics is leaving an enormous debt, and a socialist uncompetitive economy/society, for the next generation.

[DaveyDavey]

09:33 PM on 07/12/2010

Yes, deciding to be stubborn about deficit spending now, after blowing $8 trillion on war and the TSA, just to try to make Obama's presidency fail, while really allowing thousands of American familes to fail, yes, that really is terrible.

Obama has added 1/10 as much to the deficit as Bush did, but, somehow, Obama is the Big Bad Socialist. Well, it just doesn't fly - are you good at math?