Julius Caesar killed the republic–then perished in its general ruin.
Government makes a mess, then demands more power to clean it up. It seeks perpetual expansion, at the people’s expense. It has always done so.
Y’know, you can operate a government without doing harm; you can even do good. But not if your lust for power becomes a mania, and drowns out everything else. How often have we seen that pattern!
“A republic–if you can keep it,” said Benjamin Franklin.
We are way too close to losing it.
I could see many years ago (sometime in my 20’s) that man was incapable of governing
himself. I said this to my husband, and he said “oh, well, we have laws…” So much for
that. Huge books filled with laws just don’t get it.
A brilliant essay. I still remember what my old graduate school professor once said to me when I expressed confidence that the American system and spirit were strong enough to survive: “Phoebe, you’re a classicist. You know how quickly a civilization can collapse.”
San Marino’s still here. I wonder what we could learn from them.
Sociopaths are drawn to politics. They thrive on lies and flattery.
We used to say, “Politics is like standing water; the scum rises to the top.”
The US prospered, because it was comprised of a population with a preponderance of ethical, moral people. As our collective morality has declined, so has our civilization.