1/ How Republics are lost: thread for those who care. "A Republic, ma'am. If you can keep it", Benjamin Franklin famously said in 1787. What did he mean? The Founders knew history. They were trying to improve on the longest-surviving Republic in history: Rome. Republic
2/ is a Latin word, meaning "that which belongs to all the people". Rome was a Republic for nearly 500 years. We are not even close to that record. Rome had a Senate, which was similar to the British House of Lords, and representatives of the middle and working class, the Tribuni
3/ Plaebis. These were empowered after the first labor strike in recorded history, in 503 BC. The Republic was united, patriotic. It had a citizens' army called militia (another Latin word), and elected "presidents" (Consuls, 2 at a time) who had a mandate from the Senate to be
4/ commanders in chief. One went to war, the other stayed in Rome. After wars ended, soldiers went back to civilian life. One of the most famous Consuls was Cincinnatus (yes, the city in Ohio is named after him). A highly successful general, he got his job done and retired to his
5/ farm, like George Washington. The Republic was under constant threat from external enemies. The Gauls, the Germans, Hannibal, Pyrrhus and many others. It defeated them all, through sacrifice, patriotism and integrity. It became the ancient world's only superpower, controlling
6/ >750,000 square miles of territory in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The only power without a single ruler. It ran out of enemies. What brought it down was a conflict between conservative oligarchs (Optimates) and progressives (Populares). The 1% and the middle class
7/ vied for power. Eventually, military leaders took sides, and civil war broke out between conservatives, who supported an oligarchic system, and progressives, who wanted more power to the middle class. The first civil war was won by conservatives, led by Lucius Cornelius
8/ Sylla. They harshly repressed the progressives, killing many. The second civil war was won by progressives, led by Julius Caesar. Caesar was assassinated by conservatives led by Brutus. But his nephew Octavian Caesar Augustus avenged him, defeated Brutus and became Imperator.
9/ The Republic was dead, transformed into the Empire, which was essentially a military dictatorship. See the parallels? Conflict between the elite and the middle class became violent, and eventually, only a dictatorship could stabilize the state. Of note, the Empire kept the
10/ appearance of a Republic. The Senate was never dissolved, but it was controlled by the Emperor. Votes still happened, but the Emperor bought the votes. DO YOU SEE THE PARALLELS? To summarize: 1 superpower, no enemies, clash between rich and poor leads to a dictatorship
11/ with only the appearance of a Republic. The Founders knew these dangers. They created the House to balance the powers of the Senate. They instituted #impeachment to make sure no President/Consul abuses his power. They put the military under Congressional control, to prevent
12/ warlord Emperors. They were light years ahead of the mediocrities on Capitol Hill today. Incidentally, Capitol Hill in Rome is where the Roman Senate met. Ben Franklin and the other Founders knew their history. We forget it at our own peril. Only a fair society where the
13/ the rich and the middle class share wealth and power can survive in the long term. If one side tries to oppress the other, dictatorship is the likely outcome. With it come abuses, nepotism, corruption and decline. SEE THE PARALLELS?
