Harry Truman famously said, “The only thing new under thew sun is the history you don’t know.”  This is where I come in; to share my meager knowledge of the olden days.

As a clone of the Roman Republic, the USA carries in it the DNA of electioneering.  Definitely an ugly art, winning elections means pulling out all the moral stops that democracies claim a monopoly on.  The main tenet of victory is to give the people what they want or at least promise it.  Nowadays they say it’s about “affordability” and lower gas prices.  But it’s so much more.

Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero left us the lowdown on winning elections.  Actually, the advice was from his brother Quintus.  “Promise impossible things. Pretend friendships where there are none, and just lie to voters.” And don’t forget,“Spread the word of your rival’s sins like crimes, sex antics, and bribery.”

Of course, money was always a must for winning.  Roman candidates didn’t have a party apparatus to raise funds, so they borrowed heavily from wealthy allies.  Julius Caesar was quite a political animal before he conquered Gaul.  He needed the money to sustain his way up the political ladder. He had to buy votes, arrange rallies and feed those attending.  He had to beautify rundown neighborhoods and bribe craft guilds.  Repaying the loans meant doling out contracts and favors to the lender once in office.   

But today’s election gimmicks are more complicated.  America has experienced a total social breakdown of traditional values.  Promises have to escalate to keep up with absurd expectations. Younger generations believe that free stuff, lifetime guarantees, and redistributing wealth is the purpose of democracy.  They’ve grown up in a world without history, only what they see on their iPhones.  They consider all the traditional values as now optional. Marriage is unnecessary, having children a disaster, and personal is debt society’s problem, not theirs.  They have invented new ways to waste money: multiple hook-ups, mega-college loans, destination weddings, gender reveal parties, bachelor and bachelorette blow-outs, buying every technical device that comes out of Silicon Valley, and moving away from all relatives.  

They wonder why they can’t find an apartment or house when the market is stressed by millions of legal and illegal immigrants from Third World countries, or when they haven’t saved a dime for one, or they contracted huge consumer and school debts while “enjoying life”.  In short, they chucked the basic survival skills of millennia and now see the culture that developed them as the problem rather than the brave new world they created.  What’s left is depending on a Boomer inheritance or politicians that will promise an easy life.

No matter how educated they are, the world they see is one of instant gratification, non-challenging work, ad lib rules, and drugs-for-all-occasions.  The media urges them to be victims and encourages them to outdo one another in frivolous spending and even to gamble daily.  No wonder free stuff promised by socialism and even communism seems like wonder cures.

Ancient Rome must have had a similar problem when Christianity began eroding the old Roman virtues.  Bread & Circuses, and free baths, weren’t enough to damp down conversions.  The masses embraced the concept of heaven and eternal life instead of burning incense to an emperor who gave them those freebies as well as world peace.   But, unlike today’s alternatives, Christianity confirmed frugality, family values, and eventually service to the empire.  Thanks to pagan Rome, Christianity became one of the pillars of Western Civilization.

Europe is now experiencing the result of grand promises and a “nanny state.”  Street riots by students and labor unions can only be stopped with more freebies in a Western democracy.  Cicero wrote that democracies eventually revert to mob rule, chaos, and dictatorship.  The Roman Republic had lasted 500 years at that point, but Cicero would witness its collapse.

To save the Republic means preserving its values.  –JLM