Thought I'd give some people a break (??) and start a new thread for this.

I am reading "A Discourse on the Arts and Sciences" by Jean Rousseau. He makes, if I am understanding him correctly, a good point about the success and decline of great civilizations. I think what he says is relevant to the discussion, in other threads, regarding the "divine" basis (call it the creator, God, what have you...) for inalienable rights as written in the founding documents for the United States.

Rousseau writes about 3 of the greatest civilizations in the history - Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In all three cases, if I understand him correctly, he is saying that as the arts and sciences of these three civilizations increased, their virtues decreased. And in all three cases, with the loss of virtue, all civilizations fell. Specifically they were conquered by those that had once been the conquered. Someone correct me if I have misstated history.

I'm wondering if the same is happening again, today, in the U.S. As more Americans adopt modern knowledge (science) and reject the divine as a basis for natural rights, is this not the same as a decrease in virtue? The same, or similar as what Rousseau described as happening in Egypt, Greece, and Rome? Once again, any historians in the house, correct me where I am wrong.

There is a reason for the old saying that: "those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it." And I wonder if that is exactly what is happening now. If Rome can fall, America certainly can. And what a shame if we, not only let that happen right under our noses, but also should have known better.

Discussion?