The Assembly Line Party

Rome is an "idea," The United States is also.
Parallels in the fall of the Roman empire to the possible demise of
the United States is a popular comparison. I read of multitudes of
reasons why historians, for thousands of years have found the fall of
Rome a fascinating subject.
Suffice to say, there is no one theory on the fall of the Roman Empire
that can hold up as absolute. Many valid points are hypothesized, but
no one theory has held up as "the smoking gun," even to this day.
Nonetheless, the correlation of these two Empires and the use of
"idea" when describing them is borne of the hopes and visions of our
founders.

The proclamation of the rights to all citizens that guaranteed life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness are still evolving in the USA,
234 years later. Surely, our growth and expansion has come to benefit
the nation as a whole, but at a disproportionate rate of "haves" vs
"have-nots'.

I considered the following (Wikapedia) entry as quite provocative:




Arnold J. Toynbee and James Burke
"....(the Roman) Empire could never have lasted longer than it did
without radical reforms that no Emperor could implement. The Romans
had no budgetary system and thus wasted whatever resources they had
available. The economy of the Empire was a plunder economy based on
looting existing resources rather than producing anything new. The
Empire relied on booty from conquered territories (this source of
revenue ending, of course, with the end of Roman territorial
expansion) or on a pattern of tax collection that drove small-scale
farmers into destitution (and onto a dole (welfare; aid to those in
need) that required even more exaction's upon those who could not
escape taxation), or into dependency upon a landed elite exempt from
taxation. With the cessation of tribute from conquered territories,
the full cost of their military machine had to be borne by the
citizenry.
An economy based upon slave labor precluded a middle class with buying
power. The Roman Empire produced few exportable goods. Material
innovation, whether through entrepreneurialism or technological
advancement, all but ended long before the final dissolution of the
Empire. Meanwhile the costs of military defense and the pomp of
Emperors continued. Financial needs continued to increase, but the
means of meeting them steadily eroded. In the end due to economic
failure, even the armor of soldiers deteriorated and the weaponry of
soldiers became so obsolete that the enemies of the Empire had better
armor and weapons as well as larger forces. The decrepit social order
offered so little to its subjects that many saw the barbarian invasion
as liberation from onerous obligations to the ruling class....."

The objective of the Assembly Line Party is to take care of our manufacturing industry and treat it as we see it, that is as the backbone of our economy and our society.

All else, other sectors of the economy, trade, foreign relations, welfare, health care, income, militray, conservation, community....grow, or not, from there.