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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Happy "Ides of March" Day




The Ides of March  -  How a Republic dies


The Ides of March should be a national holiday in every democratic nation on earth.  But it is the politicians who control what is considered a holiday, and the last thing they want is a holiday that reminds the people that politicians are not Gods.

Julius Caesar serves as a warning to any thinking person about the dangers to a Republican form of government.

Being a Consul of the Roman Republic was not enough.  Caesar used military force to bully the Senate into submission and get himself appointed to the office of Dictator.
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He was first appointed dictator in 49 BC possibly to preside over elections, but resigned his dictatorship within eleven days. In 48 BC, he was re-appointed dictator, only this time for an indefinite period, and in 46 BC, he was appointed dictator for ten years. In February 44 BC, one month before his assassination, he was appointed dictator for life. 

In an attempt to save the Republic a group of Senators chose assassination as the only option.  According to Eutropius, around 60 or more men participated in the assassination. He was stabbed 23 times.




The Death of the Roman and American Republics

Slowly the Roman Senate effectively ceded power to the Consuls.  More and more the Roman Constitutional system of checks and balances was weakened and the "strong men" holding the office of Consul became authoritarian.

The Republic ended with Julius Caesar being appointed Dictator for Life.

The Republic of United States is rapidly following the path of extinction just like the Roman Republic.  Out of pure cowardice the American Senate and House cede ever more power to our own Consul called a President.    

Frightened of their own shadows, the Congress cannot even bring itself to pass a budget.  Senators pretend to be helpless against the power of the President, when in fact Congress has total power over spending.

For decades Presidents of both parties have taken the nation to war without the Constitutionally required declaration.  From Korea to Vietnam to Panama to Bosnia to Libya, the representatives of the people are not required to vote a declaration of war.

In the great bi-partisan tradition Comrade Obama wages war and bombs Yemen and Libya without a peep from the cowards in Congress.  American troops are sent into battle at the will of the elected monarch in the White House.

Slowly a bi-partisan and highly centralized police state is being created in the name of security as more power is gathered to the executive in violation of the Constitution.

Like the Roman Senate our Congress is giving up their power.

Neither American political party appears to have any interest in following the will of the Founding Fathers.  History shows it is only a matter of time until the Republic dies at the hands of some self declared President-for-Life.

Hail Caesar.

(Julius Caesar)      (The Constitution of the Roman Republic)


The Roman Senate in the acclaimed  HBO series "Rome." 
The Rome series brings alive the back-stabbing politics, torture, murder and the death of a Republic.


Ciarán Hinds as Julius Caesar  in the HBO series "Rome".

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