The
Roman Republic is a field of study which yields a crop ripened for
serious thought. Had the Romans had a man like Benjamin Franklin at the
inception of their government to whom they could have asked the question
Americans asked him about what they had for their new government, the
ancient Romans would have heard the same answer he gave them: "A
Republic if you can keep it."
Later in their history, the Romans learned that they couldn't do it; they couldn't keep it. The Republic fell and in so doing, it became a case study of how a republican (small "r") form of government is lost.
As the destructive storm broke over the Republic it brought harbingers of the demise of the Republic. The leaders began to encourage and utilize the last political tool of democracy: violence. Various factions began to form in the Republic, factions at odds with each other, violent factions.
One of the tools put into play was a group would begin to harass the officials of the government with whom they disagreed. Whenever those officials went from place to place in the city, a mob of harassers would form to follow them, shout at them, and throw rocks or whatever they could find at them. These beleaguered officials found their homes surrounded, their families harassed, even threatened. Those who could do so used bodyguards when in public. But it got worse.
When one group gathered in the Forum to hold a rally, to listen to a speech from one of their leaders, the opposing group, now a mob, would be there to disrupt the proceedings causing the orator to flee to escape injury. It got so bad, the angry mob might beat him to death or slit his throat if and when they caught him. One faction in power would pass laws so as to put an opponent under arrest or in exile or death. The old laws were breaking down.
Yet, worse days were to come--election days. As the people voted by casting their ballots in various urns as they voted by tribes, one faction, realizing that the vote was not going their way, would break into the polls and smash the urns or a person in a position of power from the opposing side would cancel the election if he saw it wasn't going his way.
Wait a minute. Hold on. This is beginning to sound familiar. At the last hearing to examine a Supreme Court nominee, for all intents and purposes, a mob was in the hearing room sometimes shouting and disrupting the proceedings. That sounds familiar.
Then there was a mob descending on the Supreme Court building, attacking its doors. Some senators or other officials saw their homes surrounded; others couldn't go to a restaurant alone or with their families without experiencing angry people who demanded they leave. Private citizens had an offending cap taken from them or a sign in their yard stolen. Students shout down speakers with obscenities, pull fire alarm levers in the building as they surround the campus property. Speakers have to be escorted to and from the campus by armed guards. That sounds familiar.
What's going on? Rome, America, and any other republic and democracy eventually descending into chaos? Why? The reason is in Ephesians 2: "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
In spite of time, education, environmental improvements, man's nature cannot be eradicated and remains the same whether that nature resides in an ancient Roman or a modern American, those in a republic will eventually turn to the last tool of democracy.
Later in their history, the Romans learned that they couldn't do it; they couldn't keep it. The Republic fell and in so doing, it became a case study of how a republican (small "r") form of government is lost.
As the destructive storm broke over the Republic it brought harbingers of the demise of the Republic. The leaders began to encourage and utilize the last political tool of democracy: violence. Various factions began to form in the Republic, factions at odds with each other, violent factions.
One of the tools put into play was a group would begin to harass the officials of the government with whom they disagreed. Whenever those officials went from place to place in the city, a mob of harassers would form to follow them, shout at them, and throw rocks or whatever they could find at them. These beleaguered officials found their homes surrounded, their families harassed, even threatened. Those who could do so used bodyguards when in public. But it got worse.
When one group gathered in the Forum to hold a rally, to listen to a speech from one of their leaders, the opposing group, now a mob, would be there to disrupt the proceedings causing the orator to flee to escape injury. It got so bad, the angry mob might beat him to death or slit his throat if and when they caught him. One faction in power would pass laws so as to put an opponent under arrest or in exile or death. The old laws were breaking down.
Yet, worse days were to come--election days. As the people voted by casting their ballots in various urns as they voted by tribes, one faction, realizing that the vote was not going their way, would break into the polls and smash the urns or a person in a position of power from the opposing side would cancel the election if he saw it wasn't going his way.
Wait a minute. Hold on. This is beginning to sound familiar. At the last hearing to examine a Supreme Court nominee, for all intents and purposes, a mob was in the hearing room sometimes shouting and disrupting the proceedings. That sounds familiar.
Then there was a mob descending on the Supreme Court building, attacking its doors. Some senators or other officials saw their homes surrounded; others couldn't go to a restaurant alone or with their families without experiencing angry people who demanded they leave. Private citizens had an offending cap taken from them or a sign in their yard stolen. Students shout down speakers with obscenities, pull fire alarm levers in the building as they surround the campus property. Speakers have to be escorted to and from the campus by armed guards. That sounds familiar.
What's going on? Rome, America, and any other republic and democracy eventually descending into chaos? Why? The reason is in Ephesians 2: "Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."
In spite of time, education, environmental improvements, man's nature cannot be eradicated and remains the same whether that nature resides in an ancient Roman or a modern American, those in a republic will eventually turn to the last tool of democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment