The Latin phrase that forms the title of this post is usually translated “Carthage must be destroyed”. That doesn’t really convey the force or conviction of the Latin phrase. According to Livy, Plutarch, and Pliny the Elder, in the 2nd century BC when Rome contended with Carthage for control of the Mediterranean (or, as the Romans humbly called it mare nostrum, “our sea”), Cato the Elder ended every speech with the phrase.
And, ultimately, Rome did destroy Carthage, completely and finally.
My point is that repeated rhetorical flourishes have power and meaning and should be taken seriously. Keep that in mind the next time you hear a report that some Iranian leader declared that Israel will be destroyed, presumably accompanied by the editorial disclaimer that he didn’t say that they would destroy it. The Romans didn’t say that they would destroy Carthage, either.
The USSR communists regularly said they would destroy/bury/whatever the US.
Steve
When Khrushchev said “we will bury you” I think he was referring to capitalism, not just the U. S. He was right. All modern economies are socialist. Whatever the whining of the Republicans and Democrats, they’re just squabbling over the shape that socialism will take in the United States. Nobody other than radical anarcho-capitalists are proposing that we do without a modern standing army and judiciary which is what you’d need to do without redistribution. Once you’ve accepted redistribution, it’s socialism.
I think that had more to do with us than anything the Russians actually did. I also think of these as hybrid economies. Relatively pure socialism has failed. Pure capitalism has also failed, or never actually been tried, take your pick. (Libertarians can’t solve the conundrum of how to insure property rights absent some form of government.)
Steve
Dave Schuler: When Khrushchev said “we will bury you†I think he was referring to capitalism, not just the U. S.
Just to be clear, the idiom doesn’t mean kill, but outlive.