Nebs Sez

..a pair of comments to Under L..

"For the Left and Progressives, he [Obama] really is 'the epitome of all disasters'. He totally and utterly hoodwinked nearly all of them right down to the tips of their toes.

When I refused to vote back in '08 I was insulted and unfriended and attacked across LJ. So far, only one person has ever come back and apologized to me for that.

For the non-fascist, non-nativist, non-corporatist side of the American political spectrum, the Obama presidency is a psycho-emotional disaster I doubt it will ever truly recover from. I mean, who the fuck does one trust after something like that?" ...from Quote of The Day

"There are certain key elements that the FF's [Founding Fathers] could not include that cause several divergences from Rome.

The Romans were a frankly martial people and never made a pretense to being otherwise. Mars was a Major God, military service was a non-negotiable prerequisite of any political career and all sons of the powerful needed to be Soldiers before they could become Lawyer/Politicians.

The Romans had specific moral and legal structures in place, like the Mos Maiorum, which strictly governed both public and private behavior, and the Cursus honorum, which laid out in a specific legal order the offices one needed to occupy in the specific order that one was required to do so. 'Leaping ahead' was literally Treason, which was punishable by death, the confiscation of all one's wealth and the Official Shaming of one's Family.

And the Roman ruling classes were forbidden to 'engage in commerce'. Of course they did so anyway, but always through their Clients. The entire Patron/Client relationship was a key part of the social order as well, providing stability and loyalty that lasted for generations.

But the 'poison pill' for our Republic is its essentially 'commercial' nature. It is such that has led to Corporate Personhood and that is what is going to do us in. The Corporation has no morals or loyalty to anything but its own immediate bottom line...even if that kills its host. The Corporation is functionally blind to such outcomes.

I do not believe the American Republic is capable of producing an Octavian. We'll be lucky if we get a Mussolini. I'd venture a Pinochet is more likely." ...from The 2012 problem

...I linked the two Latin terms in this post..though only a third my age, Under L's knowledge of Rome is near to my own and had no need of such...