A YEAR AGO I started a research project in order to see if I could make any sense out of America’s involvement in the Middle East.

My research revealed that the political trend that has dominated the world for 2,000 years goes back to the ancient Roman Empire.

Roman Law during that period of history assumes that the individuals rights are granted by the government. Also, during that period, when Rome dominated the Mediterranean world, we find Pax Romana — the enforced Roman peace by ruthlessly punishing any who wanted to declare independence.

Having studied history, including that of the Roman Empire, America’s founders realized the direction England was headed. They also watched with horror as the Colonies were being influenced by the principles of the Roman Empire.

Their solution was to sever all ties with England. This resulted in a new nation based on free markets and Common Law. This gave us two fundamental principles — do all you have agreed to do and do not encroach on other’ persons or their property — and it gave us a hatred of political power, which always corrupts.

Over the decades this has been gradually subverted and replaced by Roman Law, which embraces political power and even seeks to expand it. Also, politicians, almost without exception, now accept Pax Romans “unity”, meaning “everyone follow our orders or else.”

Here are three examples:

1. In the 1930s the Roman Empire model was applied when the U.S. Government gave us the New Deal programs that marked the beginning of today’s massive tax-and spend bureaucracy.

2. Europe has been the source of history’s worst wars, including World War I and World War II, because Europeans have embraced the Roman Empire model and have tried to conquer most of the world.

3. The Roman Empire is the model for the United Nations, which is a super government that seeks to create a Pax Romana “unity” for the whole world called “The New World Order.”

As we face today’s growing crises in the Middle East it is important to study our history—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the writings of our Founding Fathers, especially George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and Thomas Paine.

Then learn from this study and be prepared to either repair the damage already done or wait and pick up the pieces and begin again — this time avoiding the mistake of foreign political involvement America’s Founders warned us against.