Upon Reading a History of the Roman Republic

The Roman Republic began to fall apart and degenerate into a dictatorship when the old virtues were forgotten, and comity was cast aside in the pursuit of political power.

The forms of Roman government were not adequate to resist men who no longer honored political norms. The Roman Republic was founded in about 500 BC. By 55 BC, Rome had divided into gangs that fought each other in the streets. The men who tore down Rome claimed to be doing it for the poor classes, but after a time it became clear that what they were after was power for themselves.

John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

As morality and religion fall away in America, we are beginning to see what happens when the Constitution is no longer adequate to govern the people.

In short, we have become a nation where political opposition leaders and their supporters are prosecuted and thrown in jail on trumped up charges. Where government agencies are used against the people in service of the bureaucrats. Where science and learning are corrupted for political ends. Where military misadventures are punctuated by military incompetence and even the very men and women who serve in the military no longer regard service to their country as important. Where moral values are turned on their heads with people supporting murderous terrorists and cheering the destruction of shops and businesses wholesale. Where homeless people crowd the streets. Where the people are divided into groups based on immutable characteristics and set to war on one another. Where young people can no longer afford housing. Where people charged with upholding the laws refuse to do so. Where discrimination against people based on race and sex is encouraged. Where the victims of terrorism are spit upon. Where higher education has become subversive, seeking the destruction of their own nation. Where devaluation of the currency and harming the economy is looked upon as an expediency. Where floods of foreign invaders are looked upon as a political strategy.

Despite the best efforts of men like Cato and Cicero, the Romans could not pull themselves out of the downward spiral that led to the dissolution of their republic. The result, after much bloodshed and dislocation, was the Roman Empire. The Romans, however, had a big advantage over America in that there was no Communist China, no hostile gang of Islamic states, and no Russia waiting in the wings for Rome to grow weak from internal strife. The result for us may be to be overrun rather than to become some sort of dictatorship.

Ben Franklin told us that we had, “A republic, if you can keep it.” The Romans had a republic for 527 years, although the last 100 years were violent and bloody. We may have ours for less than that.