1) Increasing strain and tension as the government basically tried to be the one to pacify its citizens and meet their needs while demanding increasing loyalty to that same government. The governement had long sought to acquire, possess, and control its subjects.
2) A central government monumentally in debt that increasingly looked for more ways to gather needed revenue.
3) A demoralized citizenry, overtaxed to the limit and burdened by the government at seeming every turn, lost its civic spirit to look after its neighbor and who became increasingly disillusioned with the long held national dream and aspiration. National pride and hope deterioated downward. Civic burnout.
4) A central government that began to lose its hold on its many military outposts it had established throughout the world. The cost benefit and burden of maintining these militray ouposts became an increasing drag and impossibility to adequately oversee.
5) Increased infighting among those who controlled the government.
6) Increasing sin and debauchery of every type and increasing lawlessness.
That's straight from a secular history book used to teach history in many colleges and universities.
Sounds eerily familar.
