Candy Challenge:
Wanna know how Rome and Current America are alike?
Read the following points from this article to find out!
Rome is a Mirror of Current America –
Excerpts taken from article by Oliver DeMille AUGUST 28, 2013
Studying history is always the best way to understand our current world and current events.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. "If we don’t read history, we are doomed to keep making the same mistakes,"-- Burke
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- Back then: Senators were originally the heads of clans, who spoke for their people and had as much
power collectively as the king. Another name for Senators was “Fathers,” or patres, and their
descendents were called the patrician or noble class. Now: Families are the basis of all free nations, but class systems are always the enemy of freedom. We
need to find ways to promote the family, not just the families of the wealthy, in society. Also, we need our Senators to truly act like fathers and great leaders.
- Rome was founded with three branches of power: the Senate, the commons, and the executive
(who controlled the military). One had money, another population, and the final, military might.
It’s the same today.
- War is unjust unless undertaken to require restitution for
wrongs. They believed war should always be formally declared by all branches of govt. Under this definition, we haven’t had a just or righteous war since World War II.
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- The Roman king Tarquin was the first to
go out and campaign for votes and give a public speech trying to get popular support. He was
known as a tyrant, and these techniques of public campaigning were looked down on for
centuries. The American founders knew this history and largely shared this view. We should consider this
today.
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- Tarquin also tried to add members to the Senate when those already there wouldn’t follow his
lead. Franklin D. Roosevelt later attempted a similar approach when he tried to increase the size of the
Supreme Court that thwarted his programs.
- At one point, Rome created a system where every citizen had a vote but only the very wealthy
and powerful had any real power. Thus the people were highly impressed with their democratic
system, but the power was in the hands of elites.
- “Men who are fighting for their own liberty and prestige are very different creatures from men who are called upon to use their judgment, unclouded by passion, when the fight is over.” What we need today is a lot more judgment and wise thinking from our regular citizens.
- Citizens were given unferrered freedom, but no vote “complete freedom of action, if not political rights.” The people were much happier during this era than when they had votes but no real power. Both types of government are bad for freedom in the long term
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- “The passions of the mob are notoriously fickle.” Then as well as now, voters swing one way now, and the
other at the next election. Again, this is our current dilemma when we go with whoever
promises us the most.
- Many Romans really believed in a class system-- some people are just plain better than others, simply because of who their parents are. This view of class led them to justify slavery, aristocracy, and different rights for different classes. The American founders argued that rights are inalienable and must be equal — for everyone. Period. Today, we seem to be returning to a class view of society--a great danger to our freedoms, from both the Left and the Right.
- When the kings and Senate in ancient Rome fought each other to the point that neither could get anything done, they finally created the office of the Censor, and gave him power to just do whatever was needed — regardless of the executive or the Senate. But because the Censor was just one person, he was easily attacked by the other branches of government. So the Censors created a huge bureaucracy, and this ran Rome and made most of the decisions no matter what the executive or Senate wanted to do. Today the bureaucracies in America and many other “free” nations actually exert much more power than our elected officials. This is a serious problem, and the main reason things change very little when the voters put a new party in office.
- In ancient times the military tribunes had their answers ready waiting until the people were out of town and they secretly recalled the senators and got a decree passed in the absence of the people. Really? Secret courts, secret decisions, secret tribunals that benefit military-industrial-complex and skirt the oversight of our representatives? Not going to happen now right? Say FISA.
- “Rome was no longer a monarchy; she enjoyed free institutions. The people of Rome would
sooner open their gates to an enemy than to a king. There was not a man in the city who did not
pray that the end of liberty, should it come, might also be the end of Rome.” This reminds me of Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty, or give me death” speech. Today a
majority seems to prefer socialism to liberty.
- “Human nature, does not change...” The American founders believed this, and they
wrote the Constitution to protect us from the weakness and power of man, regardless of technological and societal advancement.
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“...angry men must also be strong, if they would achieve their purpose.” If we’re frustrated about the current steady stream of scandals in Washington, we must do something effective to make a difference.
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