Late Roman Republic Shows What Can Happen to Our Democratic Republic

On January 6, 2021, there is little dispute now that President Donald Trump, in a desperate attempt to cling to power, unleashed an angry mob on the capitol. His goal was to prevent Congress from certification of election results. He was glued to Fox News and was watching the action in real time and did nothing to stop the violence for 187 minutes, even though a feces-smearing horde was both armed and willing to hang the Vice President. America's noble but fragile experiment in democracy nearly came to an end that day.  This is why the congressional investigation into precisely what transpired is so important. Though some Congressional Democrats may have political motives, the Republicans who have provided most of the testimony belie the assertion that this is just politics. It's much more than that. Those of you who are familiar with the late Roman Republic and its downfall into autocratic rule by a string of emperors, should be well aware how easily any democratic government can be perverted. 

Rome existed for about 300 years as a monarchy before it tossed out its kings in favor of a republic around 509 BCE. That form of representative government endured nearly 500 years until it finally fell under the rule of "first citizen" Octavian, better known as Caesar Augustus. What happened? 

There have been numerous books on this topic, all with multiple theories. Let me provide my own, with analogies to what is going on here. 

First, there was wide wealth disparity between optimates "the haves" and populares "have nots." Optimates controlled the Roman Senate. Populares had little authority by comparison.  So the Roman Republic was actually more of an oligarchy, in which the few made the rules, largely to benefit themselves. 

America's democratic republic is slowly but surely morphing into an oligarch as well. A Princeton study demonstrates quite clearly that policies favored by most of us receive scant attention from our elected representatives, while those favored by the wealthy and campaign contributors receive all the attention. 

Second, in the late Roman Republic, there was a rise in demogogues. This started with the Gracchus brothers. They appealed to the masses with promises of land reform, but would incite the mob with violent rhetoric. and were often accompanied by armed thugs. Government was in gridlock, very much like the government we see today. 

Third was the rise of authoritarians. Pro-plebe Gaius Marius was the first Roman general to march on Rome. What followed was a purge of pro-optimate citizens. Then came pro-optimate Lucius Cornelius Sulla ("no greater friend, no worse enemy") who purged the populares and had himself declared Dictator for life by a cowed senate. After enacting a number of reforms to ensure that optimates remained in control, Sulla gave up his title. This is something Julius Caesar, himself a populare and an optimate, could never understand.  The reforms failed and Rome descended into civil war after Julius Caesar decided he might as well march on Rome, too.  He was both an able administrator and perhaps the best military commander the world has ever known. Whether he would have stabilized Rome will never be known because senate assassins killed him. 

"Democracy" had become both undemocratic and unstable for Romans. They were probably relieved when "first citizen" Octavian became Caesar Augustus and ruled Rome as a benevolent (sort of ) dictator.  Democracy here is far from democratic. Like the late Roman Republic, our elected officials are almost always in gridlock.  There has been a rise in authoritarian types on the local (Lynch), state (Wolf, Matriano) and national (Trump) levels. The executive branch is asserting itself in ways that were unthinkable until the Vietnam War. We have presidents who legislate by Executive order, while governors imposed lockdowns with no regard to the people being hurt. 

And like Gaius Marius, Sulla and Caesar, we had a President incite a mob to obstruct Congress in an attempted coup. 

The Roman Republic lasted five centuries before devolving into an autocratic state. We have only existed half that time and are in deep peril. To those who would like to see our democratic republic stick around, that is why the J6 committee matters.