[The Pack Knight]

No relation. My mother named me "The" for reasons that remain obscure. I tried calling myself T.P. Knight in college, but I stopped that for reasons that should be obvious.

And that is the big lesson of the Roman Republic. It really started when politicians began buying votes with other peoples' money, mostly through subsidized grain and state-mandated debt forgiveness. That should seem familiar to anyone posting here. It should be noted that this populist strain of politics led to the first recorded instance of political violence in Rome since the overthrow of the Tarquinii kings. This, of course, was the killing of the Gracchi.

The other major factor came with the Marian reforms, which replaced the citizen army with a professional army, but did not replace the politically appointed officers with a professional officer corps, a dangerous combination whose results speak for themselves. Luckily, we don't quite have THAT yet.

[CutePuppy]

My mother named me "The" for reasons that remain obscure.

I think "The" is grand, it sounds aspiring.

And that is the big lesson of the Roman Republic. It really started when politicians began buying votes with other peoples' money, ...

"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money" - Alexis de Tocqueville.

That should seem familiar to anyone posting here.

Yes, it should...

One of the reasons I'd like to see Newt as President (besides his ability to articulate ideas) is that he is a historian and understands the real lessons of history, as well as practical limitations of either branch of government due to constitutional separation of powers as well as overwhelming egos of many Senators and Justices, especially having been in "the system" himself. One example was his practical approach to provide better alternative to financing and administering Medicare, so that its "centralized command bureaucracy" could "wither on the vine".