Does Thomas Madden think the United States is falling like the Roman Republic?

Thomas Madden told Shawn Ryan that the US faces the same strains Rome did but is not on Rome's path. He matches 1990, the fall of the Soviet Union, with 146 BC, when Rome destroyed Carthage. If America were tracking Rome, he said, it would already have seen a Tiberius Gracchus killed by senators and a Gaius Gracchus crushed by troops in the capital. He calls the republic still healthy, though under strain, and credits the framers of the Constitution.

• Madden said that in 2008 he wrote a Wall Street Journal piece rejecting predictions of American collapse.
• Madden argued that wealthy, stable societies enjoy stories about their own demise, while collapsing ones suppress them.
• Madden said people who call the republic doomed usually just list what the opposing party has done lately.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on The Shawn Ryan Show (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

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