GRIDLOCK AND ENDLESS INVESTIGATION DESTROYED ROME -IS AMERICA NEXT ?
POLITICAL WARFARE AND PARALYSIS UNDERMINED THE ROMAN REPUBLIC
Scholars believe that political stalemate helped destroy the Roman Republic. Rome had grown as a republic to great heights as the world's only super power. Then important decisions went undecided. Nothing was done to solve great problems. Why? They were the victims of legislative stalemate and political in fighting. The Senate was paralyzed by partisanship. We see eerie similarities in to days Washington. In Rome each party would rather leave a crisis unsolved than give a victory to the leadership of the other side. The Senate which led Rome to greatness, was now tied up in political paralysis. The second problem that added to the legislative disease of partisanship over patriotism was wealth. The empire's wealth, which corrupted the political system, included vast campaign finance corruption.
By 70 B.C., the weaknesses in Rome’s government were clear. The empire’s wealth had completely powerfully corrupted the Senate. In fact, wealth of The Roman Republic as Superpower corroded every aspect of Roman political life. Money eroded the political process. The only way to get elected in 70 B.C. was to spend lavishly. To get citizens’ votes, politicians sponsored expensive gladiatorial games. Wealthy businessmen traded campaign contributions for political favors. Both Caesar and Cato commented that the very patriotic and self sacrificing Senators of the past that had guided Rome to Super power status no longer existed in this petty, spoiled generation of legislators.
GRIDLOCK STOPPED THEM FROM SOLVING PRESSING PROBLEMS
The Roman Senate was stuck in gridlock and therefore could not solve pressing problems. The two parties hated each other so much that they could not let the other side gain any victories. This even included international issues effecting all of the nation. Ordinary citizens lost faith in the republic and the government because of this political paralysis. The two parties spent endless time on punitive investigations of the other party. Scandals used for political purposes rocked the Senate. Rome had usually resolved its differences peacefully and for the good of the country. During Rome's rise from a small city to a super power the people displayed traits of patriotism and piety and honor. They had character and discipline, but years of wealth had led to decadence, not just in society but also in politics. They entered the politics of winning at all costs; even the personal destruction of rivals.
Now, there were two major political parties, the Optimates and the Populares. The Optimates stood for old moral values. They supported political reforms from within the Senate. The Populares—which literally means “democrats”—believed that Rome needed more democracy, not less. It needed leaders responsive to the popular will. Rome had a serious problem in 70 B.C. with pirates who terrorized the Mediterranean and took hostages, including senators’ wives being held for ransom. Yet the Senate was trapped in partisan bickering and could come to no remedies. Does any of this sound like our border crisis? In America for now, one party is currently more into blocking the other party regardless of what is good for our nation than the other party. In Rome's past the Senate and voters of Rome had made momentous decisions to help the Roman republic become the most powerful nation/empire in world history with possibly the exception of America in the last century or so.
PEOPLE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THE GOVERNMENT'S ABILITY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
Citizens lost confidence in the government of Rome and maybe Americans are losing confidence in Congress and our media, the fourth branch of government. In the past, the Roman Senate had provided superb guidance for Rome during the struggle with Hannibal and the rise to superpower status. Polybius said, the Roman people, whose civic virtue and constitution was the key factor in why Rome, in one generation, rose from being a small nation to being master of an empire. The Roman Empire was, in the terms of its day, a global empire, marked by a global economy, a global culture, and a global political world. All this is similar to American domination of the planet.
Rome was, in its own way, as creative as our own age of technology and science. As America today builds upon the intellectual heritage of Europe, so Rome built upon its legacy from Greece. In art, literature, and architecture, the Roman Empire laid the cultural foundations for European history. Roman science and medicine shaped the history of both the medieval Christian and Muslim worlds. The Roman Empire was an age of creativity with few parallels in history. One coinage united worldwide commerce. One law protected all inhabitants. Rome had great senators like Cato and Cicero. Europe, parts of the Middle East, and northern Africa. One language, Latin, was spoken throughout the empire. America has also invented most of the technological advances of the last century and half.
Roman citizens no longer wanted to be so strong and responsible. They could no longer trust their Senate due to endless gridlock and useless investigations. Therefore the Roman republic died. Some now think America also needs a large all powerful (socialistic) autocratic, central government. Many successful republics end in this fashion or collapse when voters find out they can raid the treasury and spend the government into financial ruin. We could look at the French Revolution which ended with the Napoleon's military dictatorship. A republic requires devout, engaged, moral citizenry to maintain itself. Have we started to enter the period of endless investigations and political warfare? Is America in political paralysis? Will the American republic die soon?
