From Our Favorite Historical Parallel Brother — Shamus Gerry III
The Modern Mystery
Something chilling happened in America’s corridors of power this week that would make a 2,400-year-old Persian king nod knowingly from his ancient throne. While Americans debated grocery prices and social media trends, the federal government quietly escalated its campaign to bend state governments to its will through regulatory rollbacks, funding threats, and executive mandates that echo through history with terrifying precision.
The Trump administration’s 2025 Executive Order on deregulation isn’t just policy—it’s a declaration of war against the delicate balance that has held American federalism together for centuries. The Environmental Protection Agency faces dismantling of state-supported carbon emissions rules. The Federal Trade Commission’s noncompete ban could be reversed overnight. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s data mandates override state privacy protections with imperial brutality.
But here’s where it gets truly unsettling: states are responding exactly as history predicts. Alabama launches its own Department of Government Efficiency. Georgia doubles down on school choice, bypassing federal oversight. California and New York prepare for legal battles that could fracture the union itself.
The pattern is unmistakable, and it’s happened before—with consequences that destroyed the greatest empire of the ancient world.
The Time Portal
Picture the magnificent throne room of Persepolis in 370 BCE, where King Artaxerxes II sits surrounded by golden columns and whispering courtiers. He inherited the greatest administrative system ever created: the satrap network—twenty provinces governed by “protectors of the realm” who collected taxes, maintained order, and commanded armies while enjoying considerable autonomy. It was federalism perfected.
But by 370 BCE, that balance was cracking under imperial paranoia. Courtiers whispered poison about provincial governors growing too powerful, too independent. The solution seemed obvious: tighten control, demand absolute loyalty, crush any hint of autonomous thinking.
Enter Datames, satrap of Cilicia—a distinguished military commander who had served faithfully for decades, crushing rebellions and filling the royal treasury. But Datames made a fatal mistake: he was too successful, too respected, too independent. When jealous courtiers whispered that he was planning rebellion, the king didn’t investigate—he believed them.
The message was clear: even the most faithful servants were expendable if they showed too much initiative. Provincial governors watched in horror as their colleague was marked for destruction, not for any crime, but for being effective without seeking permission.
It was the precise instant when an empire’s strength became its weakness.
The Parallel Revelation
The parallels between Artaxerxes’ Persia and Trump’s America are so precise they seem scripted by the same cosmic playwright. Both empires reached crisis not through external invasion, but by sacrificing the federal balance that made them strong.
When Datames learned courtiers were speaking against him, he faced the same choice confronting American governors today: submit to arbitrary federal authority or resist and be branded a traitor. His response mirrors what we’re seeing across America. Rather than wait for recall, Datames retreated to his stronghold and fortified his position—exactly what Alabama did with its DOGE program, what Georgia did with school choice, what California is doing with legal challenges.
The Persian king’s reaction mirrors today’s federal response with eerie precision. Artaxerxes sent massive armies to crush provincial resistance. Today’s federal government follows the same playbook: threats to withhold disaster funds, regulatory rollbacks that override state protections, executive orders that bypass oversight.
But here’s the chilling part: the Persian system began cannibalizing itself exactly as America’s federal structure is doing today. Autophradates, sent to crush Datames, eventually joined the rebellion when he realized the king’s paranoia would target him too. Ariobarzanes refused to cede his position when replaced with a compliant relative. Orontes assembled mercenaries when demoted for independence.
Each satrap faced the same calculation modern governors are making: resist and be destroyed, or submit and watch your effectiveness evaporate. The empire’s greatest strength—capable, autonomous provincial leaders—became its vulnerability when central authority decided loyalty mattered more than competence.
The Pattern Recognition
This pattern repeats because it springs from the most predictable flaw in human nature: the inability of those in power to distinguish between strength and control.
Every successful empire begins with the same insight—vast territories require local autonomy to function. But success breeds paranoia. Leaders start seeing competent governors not as assets but as threats, independent thinking not as strength but as insubordination.
The transformation follows the same script: demand absolute loyalty over competence, replace effective leaders with compliant mediocrities, use force to crush resistance. Each step seems logical—what could be more reasonable than demanding obedience?
But empires aren’t businesses. They’re complex ecosystems requiring trust, autonomy, and mutual respect. When central authority declares war on provincial independence, it doesn’t create obedience—it creates the rebellion it fears.
The pattern is a law of physics: Imperial overreach generates provincial resistance, which justifies further overreach, until the system collapses. Persia, Rome, the Soviet Union—all followed this trajectory from federal balance to centralized paranoia to collapse.
The Ancient Warning
The Great Satraps’ Revolt ended in betrayal and blood. Datames was murdered by a trusted ally. Ariobarzanes was crucified by his own son. Orontes betrayed fellow rebels to save himself.
The immediate result seemed like victory—rebellious provinces brought to heel, independence crushed. But the Persian Empire never recovered. The satrap system became a network of fearful yes-men who prioritized survival over effectiveness. Provincial administration collapsed, rebellions multiplied, borders contracted.
Within a generation, Alexander swept across this weakened colossus like wildfire. The empire crumbled not from external pressure, but because it had destroyed the internal balance that made it strong.
The warning for America couldn’t be clearer: empires that sacrifice federal balance for central control don’t become stronger—they become brittle and doomed.
5 Things Readers Can Do This Week
When federal systems collapse, survivors are those who prepared for independence beforehand:
1. Build Local Networks: Connect with neighbors and local officials who share concerns about federal overreach. Your survival may depend on local cooperation when larger systems break down.
2. Develop Self-Reliance Skills: Learn food preservation, basic medical care, emergency communications. Survival Stronghold offers guides for building capabilities you’ll need when government services become unreliable.
3. Create Economic Independence: Diversify income sources and reduce federal dependence. Self Reliance Report provides strategies for building financial resilience against political instability.
4. Establish Food Security: When empires collapse, food distribution fails first. Homesteader Depot offers advice for sustainable food production independent of fragile supply chains.
5. Protect Health Independence: Build relationships with independent healthcare providers. Freedom Health Daily and Seven Holistics provide resources for health maintenance without centralized medical dependence.
The Persian satraps who tried preserving the old system were destroyed. Those who adapted survived. Don’t be the last to realize the federal balance that once protected you is gone forever.
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Sources
1. Hayes, Charles. “Federal Overreach and the Fragile Balance of Power.” AInvest, August 16, 2025.
2. “Great Satraps’ Revolt.” Wikipedia, accessed August 17, 2025.
3. Graf, David F. “The So-Called ‘Great Satraps’ Revolt,’ 366-360 BC.” Classical Journal, 1994.
4. Farazmand, Ali. “Administration of the Persian Achaemenid World-State Empire.” International Journal of Public Administration, 1998.