So the following is from Edward Gibbons book The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire but I think I read it in Doug Wilson's book Five Cities That Ruled the World. Gibbons, a historian, notes the following five attributes of the Roman Empire at its end:

1. A mounting love of show and luxury. (affluence)
2. A widening gap between the very rich and the very poor.
3. An obsession with sex.
4. Freakishness in the arts, masquerading as originality, and enthusiasm pretending to be creativity.
5. And increased desire to live off the state.

Hmmm. Sound familiar.

Here's another quote that might be useful to us.

Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!

Food for thought!

Michael