How our republic could die in the age of Trump -- in a stunning parallel to the fall of Rome

[pdsimdars]

How our republic could die in the age of Trump — in a stunning parallel to the fall of Rome

The American republic could die, just like Rome.

Wavering for some time on the verge of becoming a complete oligarchy, America is on the verge of flipping from a democratic republic to a strongman or autocratic form of government, something that’s happened to dozens of democracies in the past few decades, but never before here. It’s possible we won’t recover from it.

The death of a republic is different from the death of a nation; Rome was a nation for nearly 2,000 years, but its period of being a republic was only around 300 years long. For the rest, it was a brutal empire with a small but wealthy and corrupt ruling class and a thin patina of democracy-for-show.

Trump is openly defying the norms and laws of our republic, while calling for the imprisonment of both his political enemies and members of the very law enforcement agencies that might hold him to account. And he’s only able to do it because billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, with Fox News, and the billionaires Republicans depend on to fund their re-elections are providing him with cover.

And they’re largely able to do that because five “conservatives” on the Supreme Court empowered billionaires to own the political system with the 1976 Buckley and 2010 Citizens United decisions.

Already, it is evident there are similarities between the end of the Roman Republic and America today when it comes to political theater. In the Roman Republic, the question of what was “real” or “fake” was decided by the people and common sense until the republic began to splinter in the first century BCE. Once the political/power cracks appeared, truth and lies became a constant matter of debate. Today we have a reality-show president who has told over 10,000 lies, many uncritically repeated daily by the media and others aggressively defended by politicians owned by the same billionaires who support Trump. Trump is constantly at war with the truth and “fake news.”

Republics die when the price of losing political struggles becomes higher than individual politicians are willing to pay, so they just roll over in favor of the interests of whoever is most powerful. Republics die when compromise is seen as betrayal, and a single principled vote, position or statement is enough to cause donors and party to turn their back and end a political career, or even end a person’s ability to earn a living.

continued . . .

https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/how-our-republic-could-die-in-the-age-of-trump-in-a-stunning-parallel-to-the-fall-of-rome/

[democratisphere]

1. Rome is already burning.

I am not sure it can survive 2 more years of drumpfian, rethuglicon "Freedom Caucus" and Mitch McConnell rule, without tremendous consequences, such as war and an economic disater.

[maddiemom]

4. Mitch is FAR more dangerous than Trump.

He understands how our government is supposed to work, and exactly how to sabotage and twist those functions to empower his own agenda. The scariest part: he BRAGS about doing so. His arrogance deserves a a major slap down, but so far his opponents have played into his hands. I lived in Kentucky for some time (pre -Mitch, so never had the pleasure of voting against him). The citizens of the state are not that gullible... and so he needs the right opponent.

[Delmette2.0]

17. Yes, more dangerous than Trump

Every time he refuses to bring anything up for a vote (which is all the time) he is denying 320, 000,000 people their fair representation by their senators. Does he just enjoy the power or does he not trust his fellow R's to vote how he wants them to? I don't trust any of them myself, but there must be some who will put who will put country and the Constitution above party and reelection.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Here's the irony:

Under Trump, we can't effectively and expeditiously prevent the destruction of our republic and democracy WITHOUT destroying the Rule of Law, thus also destroying our established government. Unless you're talking impeachment . . . . . .

[Aussie105]

3. Great to see

someone has woken up to the many parallels between the Roman Empire and the current US scene.

A lot of things we take for granted in our daily lives as being immutable, unchanging and robust, often turn out to be ephemeral.

Trump is a Bringer of Change, unintentional perhaps, driven by stupidity and greed, but he is an Agent of Change nevertheless.
The harm he is doing and the self serving networks he has set up, may never be erased.

[Perseus]

5. The link is not working for me

I also tried a shortcut https://www.alternet.org/2019/05 and it got me there, but once I clicked on the heading of the article it did not find it, any thoughts?

Thank you

[pdsimdars]

21. I just tried that link and it worked. Clicked on it right at the bottom. . went right there

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. We are being done in by apathy, bought politicians, hubris, greed..

And the anesthetized public from TV and social networking. It is pathetic to behold, but so clear

[pdsimdars]

20. I agree with you

[CaptainTruth]

7. It could die if we don't vote Trump out in 2020. That's the most important thing.

[Skittles]

8. it's not just Trump though

increasingly, what We the People want, what we need, what we think......doesn't mean anything

[Locrian]

11. right

If the "system" was functioning and able to check trump we wouldn't be IN this mess.
If the "system" had not allowed a trump to get INTO the whitehouse we wouldn't be in this mess.

Going "back" or just removing trump is not going to matter if the system that produced trump is still there.

One of my biggest fear is that we find a way to remove trump or win in 2020. But didn't really change anything.

Then all the deals / tax cuts come due, the economy collapses (which actually could happen at any time) - and we wind up with a real far right threat that has more than two brain cells to rub together. One that knows politics, dirty tricks, has money, strategy, charisma, etc and is not such blatant idiot that people fall for it one last time.

[Skittles]

13. excellent analysis, Locrian

what kills me is so many Americans don't think it could happen to us, even though we see what has happened around the world. America just isn't very old.....it not only CAN happen here, we are well on our way. I also think the Electoral College no longer serves its original purpose, and has given us TWO nitwit presidents in recent history.

[bullwinkle428]

12. An autocracy has been a wet dream for lots of right-wingers throughout

my entire adult life, which covers 30+ years. Trump is just the delivery vehicle.

[Skittles]

14. CORRECT

[Locrian]

9. awesome article

Required reading for everyone - illustrates how following the "proper procedures" and counting on the "system" to work is not going to solve this problem.

Nixon didn’t want to turn over the tapes, but when the courts told him to, he complied. Hillary Clinton didn’t want to testify for more than eight hours about Benghazi, but when Congress demanded it, she showed up. These have been American norms since the presidency of George Washington.

It’s entirely possible that Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr are right that Congress now has no real means to enforce their subpoenas and requests for testimony and documents; if so, it’s been that way since the founding of the republic.

Our government has functioned from one administration to another since its founding not because presidents and members of Congress were afraid of going to jail; things have held together because our politicians have, almost without exception, honored the institutions of our nation, even when they didn’t need to fear them.

Our Constitution, in many very real ways, is rather weak when faced with parties or persons who flaunt its norms, or won’t use the tools it provides to ensure accountability.

[Chipper Chat]

10. If California seceeds

When they have finally had enough - That could be the first major domino to the end of the "United states."
.

[roamer65]

18. NY, CA and New England eventually will secede.

I see parallels between abortion and the slavery issues from the Civil War era.

[Javaman]

15. the cyber sacking of washington dc has already begun. nt

[colsohlibgal]

16. Sadly True Enough

We get amped up, encouraged, by the courts (for the most part), and other entities.

But.....what if he keeps refusing to budge, ignoring subpoenas and court rulings? Even if the House finally went to impeachment it would die in the Senate. Who makes him comply, who physically goes to the White House to take out the boxes, etc? I’ve fantasized about the World Court playing a role.

We have a guy in the White House who calls any negative news on him fake news.....classic autocratic behavior.

We are now being included with Russia and China as dangerous by other nations.

And yet at least a third of the country are just fine with all this.

I worry daily about what kind of life my Children, Grandchildren And later descendants will have.

The hour is late let’s go Congress, let’s go people for truth and justice!

[world wide wally]

19. There are a few things wrong in America today

The electoral college makes it easier to steal elections.
Corruption is rampant and it goes unabated because of a complicit Senate.
The Senate is either as corrupt as the President or totally spineless.
Money rules our democratic system.
Speaking of spineless, our media is too cowardly to defend itself.
People are largely apathetic about politics or grievously uneducated.
Lies outweigh truth.

Other than all that, we're in great shape.
Of course the USA is in BIG trouble.