Essay 3 - Draft

[LaniC]

Cajulis, Leilani
English 101, Section 0459
O’Connell
November 28, 2008
Essay 3 draft

Chapter 4 of Cullen Murphy’s book “Are we Rome” touches on the topic
of “The Outsiders”. Murphy shares his thought of America and Rome’s
view of self-grandiosity and indestructibility. In this chapter,
Murphy relays how the XVII, XVIII, and XIX Legions led by Roman
Commander Varus under Emperor Augustus were humiliated when they were
defeated in the battle at Teutoburg Forest by the German that resulted
in the death of 30,000 Roman soldiers. This event left the Romans in
disbelief because they have always regarded this group of people as
barbarians with inferior level of technologies and with lack of
knowledge. The blame, however, was placed on Varus and not on Rome or
Augustus overconfidence and superior view of self that the opponent’s
strength to fight back was underestimated. The United States also
shares the same view of self and for decades have positioned itself as
the world’s most powerful nation especially after Russia’s decline.
In comparison to William Shakespeare’s tale of Antony and Cleopatra,
Antony is depicted in the story as the fearless Roman General who
conquered all battles for Rome with formidable force and unshaken
courage but in the end, have lost his popularity and trust from his
own force as a leader because he allowed himself to be entrapped by
Cleopatra’s seduction that he neglected his duty to the Roman army. He
had taken his duty as Rome’s defender for granted and had left his
wife all alone to fight the war. Instead, he followed Cleopatra to
Alexandria and wasted his time drinking and fooling around with the
Egyptian Queen. This point of view reflects how America looks at
itself as a symbol of power and its overconfidence of world dominance
that its government underestimated the ability of foreign corporations
to manipulate and to take advantage of the laxity of its foreign
policies. Like Cleopatra, these money-greed multi-national
corporations have lured America to take their bait and be drowned in
huge debts.

Most recent corporations hit by the worsening U.S. economy are the big
three automakers namely: GM, Chrysler, and Ford. Majority of the
lawmakers are skeptic about the three corporations’ pleas for a multi-
billion dollar bailout inorder for them to continue their operations.
The automakers and the lawmakers cannot agree on the rescue plan since
the prospect of paying back the huge budget needed is very vague.
This is very alarming because time is running out, Congress is
indecisive, and I think the death of these giant corporations can
result in a chain reaction that would further sink the bad economy
that we are facing
today.