Quote (bogie160 @ Feb 17 2022 07:01am)
I really dislike the Roman metaphor.
The collapse of the Republic was the result of two main factors, the Marian reforms in 107 BC and the murder of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus at the hands of the aristocracy. Tension between the aristocracy, which controlled the vast majority of land, and the lower classes generally became more and more severe. Conflict between the Populares (i.e. demagogues) and the Optimates (nobility) came to a head first in the First Civil War between Marius and Sulla, and then again after the collapse of the First Triumverate between Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus. The Republic increasingly became riven by class war, and rule by a corrupt oligarchic elite (not that the Populares weren't also corrupt) became untenable. The Marian reforms significantly altered the balance of military power by allowing for a professional soldier class dependent on their general's patronage for retirement grants in the form of land. That, alongside the vast manpower required to maintain an increasingly complex empire, led generals to exercise defacto control over the Roman state.
The Senate didn't cede power to Octavian, it was effectively dead as an institution after a series of civil wars, first with Caesar's victory over Pompey and the Optimates in 45 BC, and then later during the Battle of Philippi which effectively ended the war of the second triumvirate between the Caesarians and Cassius/Brutus. With Octavian's later victory over Anthony at the Battle of Actium, he became the defacto ruler of the Roman state. He was perfectly content to dress up his military rule in constitutional clothing, but the Republic at this time was dead, and the transition into the Principate was a mere formality. It needs to be said that this was not a bad thing, Octavian (later Augustus) was an incredibly effective ruler, and it was necessary that someone reform and stabilize the Roman state after an almost incessant series of civil wars and internal conflicts.
Political institutions don't suddenly morph overnight, the rot is always much deeper and begins far earlier than the actual date fixed on the final collapse. It's possible that Trudeau's invoking of the Emergency Act, and the intensely authoritarian Covid-19 measures adopted throughout the developed world portend a deeper societal decline, but the Emergency Act as invoked a few days ago will not be the end of parliamentary democracy in Canada.
Great info here! I agree, he’s a symptom of a much larger issue. Once countries stopped truly invading each other and expansion stopped, it was a matter of time. There are no more explorers. The world is explored. We pretty much live where we can and the only other one is unlivable by nearly all standards.
Power accumulates and as the population increases, scrutiny decreases. Easier to blend and blur. Power struggles have existed forever, we are in a unique human period where the whole world is populated. The infrastructure required for any further advancements are near with living in the moon. It’s down to money and years of development. We cooouooould live underwater in domes but like, look around, 7 billion people, statistically someone is gonna ruin it and cause a hole killing 100,000 people and that’ll be the end of that.
Technology has outpaced humanity. As a species we are underdeveloped. The only logical conclusion is self immolation or a plague or meteor. Short of that, it’s gonna be power changing hands in the form of governments and rich corporations with enough money to bribe god. Bill gates could buy Puerto Rico and rename it stupid rich island. A hacker in China can turn off power in Spain to 500,00 people in an instant. People are hungry for stability and that’s where the opportunity for oligarchs to seize control. It’s been in motion and not enough people to stop it. Now is not the time to allow baby tyrants to run unchecked and destroy civilized society through their arrogance and ignorance.