From Roberta, who posted it before The Massachusetts Stasi
made a night time visit to knock on TJIC's door. She was, however, musing on the state of freedom in this Republic and
how it will be viewed by future historians:
I'm half-convinced we have already passed the point where future
historians will draw a line, saying, "Here the Republic ended; here the
Empire began."
I fear that she is right.
Agree...dammit...
ReplyDeleteEmpires rise and fall. It is the way of our kind. I suppose all one has to do now is decide whether he falls with it, or goes along to get along.
ReplyDeleteFuture historians will note the time when a populist dictator claimed wartime exigencies to break with long-standing tradition and stand for a third term as consul...
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ReplyDeleteBy and large systems of government eventually do just fail. But it can be surprising what, sometimes, they eventually manage to endure and bounce back from instead. So I'm pretty grouchy and discouraged about what's going on, but I am not always sure how to bet.
It is sorta surprising to me that the US bounced back from the New Deal to the extent it did. Various important things became dead letters, and never bounced back, so much so that I gather I'm with Tam: if future historians draw a line I think it's more likely to be then than now. But some important aspects of the system have still survived for the better part of a century since then.
It is even more surprising how much abuse the basics of the English parliamentary system took in the 17th century and still survived to form the basis for most of the enduring reasonably liberal governments in the future.
There's an interesting analogy to be made between Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt and the Gracci brothers from the late Roman Republic. After both, the respective Republics were never the same, and not in a way that led to more freedom.
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