The Roman Senate, inhabited by elitists, deflected all attempts to tax their patrician class. Since the poor have no money, the working classes - the potters, the bakers, the weavers, the millers (small businesses) were heavily taxed to pay for the increasing costs of the Republic, and then the Empire starting with Augustus Caesar.
By the end of the 1st Century AD, families began to sell themselves into slavery to avoid paying taxes. By the beginning of the 3rd Century AD, there no longer existed a middle or mercantile class within the Roman Empire. The greater part of the Empire's population was made up of slaves, and of those the majority were from outside the Empire, namely non-native.
No matter how much Romans tried later to bring back the Republic and its values, they couldn't achieve those ends, as the original Roman populations no longer existed. Europe drifted into the Dark Ages and much of the technical knowledge of the ancients would be forgotten.
It is very important to keep in mind that the United States is NOT like Rome. We have a public that is far more literate and educated than Rome ever had, with a top literate percentage never exceeding 14% even at its apogee in the 1st Century BC. Today we have science based on rational thought (mostly!) and empirical proof, while the Romans were highly superstitious pagans.
In our current state, while I will say we are vastly more technologically advanced, I would beg to differ about the better educated part. People are so much more ignorant despite the vast opportunites they have to become educated.
I do not believe most schools, much less “colleges” have been actually educating students for several decades, only indoctrinating them. Just try and have a conversation about politics, history, or anything besides “social populist ideals” with one. See what ya get. Google Howard Sterns man on the street interviews to see the average man on the street speak.
As to Rome not being a democracy, officially, I would agree, however, as soon as the “mob” realized they could vote themselves a raise through entitlements, the majority did so, and the period they were in before having a Ceasar, yet after they were controlled by the Senate via rule of law, is most comparable with a democracy. Since a democracy always leads to an oligarchy, the transition period can and should be considered democratic, or mob, rule. We are directly in that transition phase, IMHO.
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