The Cycle Continues

What to do?

Monday, April 7th, 2025

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado

Cities have always been a looking glass to the near future of a state or country. In the moment we shrug off excessive crime, violence, and overall mild or extreme forms of degenerate behavior in cities - thinking that it’s just the way it is.

Sure, a large concentration of people is always going to mean more crime…

But, what we are seeing (and have been seeing for many years now) is a sort of creeping death. For the whole of human history, cycles of rise and decline have reoccured time and time again.

The decline, the decay - is always slow, but steady…

Man, especially after living in Denver for 12+ years, it’s amazing to see how much homelessness, drug problems, social anxiety/awkwardness, violence, and immoral behavior has increased.

After visiting Portland a couple weeks ago it’s obvious that it’s just as bad, if not worse.

But, I must say, it’s not like the rural areas are much better. Yes, you can find pockets of people with their own insulated subculture. Most rural areas, and the people in them, are just being drug along in the decay.

Crumble

It reminds me of the ancient cities of Athens and Sparta during and after the Peloponnesian War…

The two rising city-states had slaughtered the Persians years before with Themistocles leading the Athenians in the Battle of Salamis to destroy a swath of the Persian naval fleet.

And to note an important land battle…

The Greeks, led specifically by the Spartans brought 100,000 Persians to their deaths by leading them into a trap at the Battle of Platea.

After the war there was a major shift…

Athens became less of a oasis of education and the pursuit of knowledge. On the other side, the discipline and honor associate with the Spartan began to fade…

But, the shift became most obvious after the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta after the two city-states were motivated by greed and fear to expand and conquer.

The war ended up with Athens on it’s knees…everything changed.

Statues that once possessed almost unattainable physics - that inspired a man to aim higher and to discipline himself - were replaced by much more realistic and tame figures.

Public oratory changed completely as well.

The speeches that once discussed ideas and got people thinking about things around them and the world as a whole…Well, those were replaced by speeches of rhetoricians seeking only to dazzle the audience with their ability to speak well and argue just about any side of a topic.

On top of that - you won’t believe this - the public was payed to attend plays because it was considered a “civic duty”.

A culture of high pursuit falls to the bread and circuses.

On the other side, the Spartans weren’t doing well either, despite their “victory” in the war…

Due to a number of events that are too long to explain here (I recommend watching Hillsdale University’s course on Athens and Sparta) Sparta was broken.

But, worse…

The culture of discipline, integrity, and honor - the shame culture of Sparta - was gone. The Spartans came to be known as brutish thugs that exercised their will on whoever they pleased.

Broken cities…Broken people.

You see, the problem with shame culture is that, to stay intact, the people within the culture are reliant on others to make them feel shame. When the Spartan empire was coming to an end, the people weren’t separated from that culture they once had and it was free reign.

Lying, cheating, stealing, raping, pillaging, and murder were all on the table.

The individuals themselves, both in Athens and Sparta, lacked a personal code and because of that they ended up choosing the path of Vice…

Where the Road Forks

In the writing, The Choice of Hercules, Hercules comes to adulthood and is faced by two deities…

Virtue (Arete) and Vice (Kakia)…

We don’t have influence over the natural (and recurring) cycles of rise and decline. Sometimes, like we are doing now, you’ve just got to stick it out during times of decay. But, the one thing we have control over - the one decision we all make whether we know it or not - is whether we pursue the path of Virtue or of Vice.

Every culture pendulums from one path to the other. Virtue is honored one moment…and the next it’s all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll…and we’re lucky if that’s as far as it goes.

It can get much worse than that…

The question is, why is it of utmost necessity to choose the path of virtue as an individual, no matter rise or decline?

Let’s talk more about that tomorrow…

-Maxim Benjamin Smith