Editor:

I thoroughly enjoy Barry Evans' commentaries in the Journal. With respect to his latest one ("Down All the Way?," July 16), I believe those who use the fall of the Roman empire as a template for the "decline" of the U.S are creating a red herring to support their own sense of powerlessness.

The soft underbelly of U.S. society is racial hatred, gun violence, plutocracy and fundamentalist religion. Together they constitute a far greater threat than anything the Visigoths threw at the Romans.

Greg Movsesyan, Fieldbrook