Partisan Politics

Nonae IANVARIAE

MMDCCLXI AUC

(5 January 2008)

Dies Fastus: legal action permitted

Today is the Anniversary (dies natalis) of the shrine of Vica Pota on the Velia, near the family house of the Valerii in early times. Vica Pota is an old Roman goddess, whose name is thought to be derived from vincere (to conquer) and potiri (to get possession of); she is therefore identified with Victoria, who later overshadowed the older deity.

Dies Saturni

Saturnus

The Roman Republic which was held in such high esteem by our Founding Fathers was a flawed system of partisan politics from its very inception. It was never intended to be an egalitarian democracy but a government that existed to benefit the landed aristocracy of its day. I would even go so far as saying that was the original intent by many of the framers of the US Constitution. Possibly Madison or Jefferson realized what a fluid document the US Constitution would become with its underlying strength of being able to correct itself. There are many issues that we can disagree about in our partisan political life in America, but the one unifying thread throughout our history that has enabled this country to become the symbol of individual freedom and liberty to the rest of the world has been the US Constitution.

The Roman Republic that lasted from 509 BCE until 27 CE when the Roman Senate granted Octavian the titles of Princeps and Augustus making him the proconsul of all provinces, the commander of all armies with the right to declare war and make peace, and he was also given the Tribunes right to propose and veto laws. The tribunate had originally been created to protect the political rights of plebeians against the oppression of patricians. Rome had gone full circle from liberating itself from despotism to accepting the principle that the only way peace and security could be maintained was by surrendering its constitutional individual liberty to the arbitrary power of the government. The central role of the military and the men who controlled it must not be overlooked in how this process unfolded.

There are several web sites that you might find informative if you want to take a closer look at what happened to the Roman Republic.

Political Institutions of the Roman Republic

Domestic Politics in the Late Republic

Be sure to follow links to subsequent pages.

The Emergence of the Augustan Age

I have studied and taught about the Ancient Romans almost my entire adult life, and I have to admit that there is for me a certain fascination about these people who brought the Mediterranean World under their dominion. The Romans called the Mediterranean Sea Mare Nostrum meaning Our Sea which gives you some insight into their view of the world. They attempted to extend their political and economic influence into areas of the world that could only be maintained by military force. They imported more than they exported. There was an over reliance on a slave work force that created what became unmanageable high unemployment. The problem was that cheap labor was too attractive to those who controlled the economic life a Rome. I would even go so far as saying that it looks to me very much like an Ancient Form of a guest labor work force. The Romans answer to unemployment was Panis et Circus. Give them bread and the circus where the government feeds and entertains the mass of the unemployed which also carries a serious cost to any society.

It is early Saturday morning and I am reading about presidential politics and the Election of 2008 when I should probably be in bed asleep. It is our world today and the politics that are impossible to escape that started me thinking about the Ancient Romans and if we are not careful how close we may come to following in their footsteps.

I have yet to hear the kind of articulation that we need concerning the restoration of the US Constitution and the repeal of the Patriot Act. What politician is talking about Military Tribunals and the potential danger they pose to every citizen's right to due process. If due process can be ignored in one instance and enhanced interrogation (torture) can be excused as necessary in another, how long is it going to be until we surrender our individual constitutional rights to the arbitrary power of the government? We hear a lot about 'Change' these days but who is willing to speak in specifics. I am less concerned with experience than I am with someone who will speak honestly and forthrightly about the restoration of American Democracy.

Senex Magister

It is past time to bring this war to an end and live as brothers in a world based on fairness for all of us.

Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism. ~Thomas Jefferson~

Bring Them Home