Twilight America = Late Roman Empire?

[Raellus]

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was teaching (or trying to, at least) my sophomores about the fall of the [Western] Roman empire and I got to thinking, as usual, about T2K.

The Milgov/Civgov split seems to offer an interesting power sharing parallel to the late Roman empire when, for economic, political, and military reasons, the Roman empire was split in two, with two capital cities, two pairs of co-emperors, etc. Of course in the GDW canon, this sort of relationship never quite develops, but the potential for such seems to be there.

There are so many similarities between classical Rome and the U.S., it's kind of scary. Rome was, for a time, a republic, as is the United States. Both have evolved into incredibly diverse societies, spreading their culture and commerce around the [known] world. Both had incredibly powerful militaries, prone, at times, to adventurism. Both societies are easily distracted from domestic and foreign difficulties by lavish public spectacles (the Collisseum & Circus Maximus vs. Hollywood and the Superbowl [for example]). Their respective languages were/are the lingua franca of the civilized world. I could go on.

And then, there are the Dark Ages. Based on historical precedent, all great Empires must fall. When the Western Roman empire ceased to exist as such*, W. Europe entered (one could argue, reverted) into the relative chaos of the Dark Ages. Hasn't the Twilight War ushered almost the entire world into a similar state? The Western Roman empire was too weak economically, politically, and militarily to outlast its wealthier Eastern twin. Continuing this analogy, I would argue, based on GDW's canon, Civgov would play the role of the W. Empire while Milgov would become the Byzantine empire.

So, the idea of Milgov and Civgov splitting the U.S. into two autonomous but interdependent confederations sort of appeals to me.

I don't know why I posted this. Anyway, here it is. Feel free to comment.

*IIRC, one of the Roman senate's last decrees was a message to the provincial governments basically absolving itself of the responsibilty of governing and saying, effectively (if not word for word), "Good luck. You're on your own." For the life of me, I can't find the exact quote anywhere.