One of the numerous reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire was an overreliance on foreigners serving in its military. American leadership would be wise to heed that lesson.
As the empire went into decline, rulers such as Constantine and Diocletian hired foreign mercenaries to fill the military’s ranks, a policy stemming from their inability to bring enough native Romans into service to maintain the empire’s vast territory. Little did they know this decision would contribute to their civilization’s eventual downfall.
Because these foreign brutes shared little to no values with the Romans, they had no loyalty to the empire and its culture. So when the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 A.D., many of the foreigners employed by the Romans turned against their newfound countrymen and sided with the enemy, helping cast one of the world’s greatest civilizations into the dustbin of history.
Rather than learn from these past mistakes, America’s political leaders seem destined to repeat them. Case in point: the halls of Congress, where Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan of New York and Republican Rep. John James of Michigan introduced legislation earlier this month to fast-track a path to citizenship for foreign nationals who sign up to serve in the U.S. military. Both congressmen indicated the measure was crafted to alleviate the military’s recruiting crisis.
The “Courage to Serve Act” tasks the secretaries of defense and homeland security with crafting a “pilot program” that would “provide for an expedited process for adjustment of status for certain
