In addition to the above, many have written, Doug Casey...

In addition to the above, many have written, Doug Casey particularly worth mentioning, about the similarities between the collapse
of the Roman Empire,and the slowly, slowly, but ongoing collapse of the current American Empire.
Imperial Rome became degenerate, a disciplined populace gave way to self indulgence and hedonistic pursuits,
the centre could no longer support the periphery, basically the army refused to accept, as wages, a currency which
had lost most of it's purchasing power (sound familiar), the once conquered territories began to make their own arrangements(Brics)
Emperor Augustus seeing the writing on the wall succeeded in melding the failing Roman Empire with
the latest popular movement (christianity), which worked for a while,but is now well past it's use by date.
the Christian renaisance was popularised by "bread and circuses" which as Silv notes above, is todays big screen mass indoctrination.
Then, as now, the "intellectual elite" Caligula et Al, sneered at their detractors.
Ye who have eyes, let them see...Ye who have ears, may ye hear...