A good read for the Europeans who have been becoming increasingly proud to have societies that favor authoritarian nepotism. But who knows, maybe the Germans will start to see the irony of doing business with China and prosecuting comedians eventually.
1. The US has plenty of authoritarian nepotism, just look at the Trump family.
2. The US imported 450 billion USD of goods from China in 2019, and exported 100 billion. Germany imported 120 billion USD of goods from China, and exported 115 billion USD.
3. Germany, unlike the US, is currently not seeing a resurgence of fascists wearing nazi flags, defending nazi memorials, and open-carrying assault rifles at protests (And occasionally discharging handguns into other people, after they trying to drive their car through a crowd.)
Of all the countries at risk of sliding into authoritarianism in the next five years, Germany would not be at the top of my list.
1. The US has plenty of authoritarian nepotism, just look at the Clinton family.
3. Germany, unlike the US, is currently not seeing a resurgence of communists wearing ancom flags, attempting a violent cultural revolution by attacking memorials, and discharging handguns into vehicles trying to escape from rioters.
Of all the countries at risk of sliding into authoritarianism in the next five years, Germany would not be at the top of my list.
I think Tacitus' most useful lesson for american politics right now would be the importance of political compromise.
When political polarization reach the kind of levels it's at in the US right now, politicians tend to sacrifice the well-being of the country to hurt their political opponents - which is bad for everyone.
I'm not sure how long you've been following American politics, but for a few decades now the Democrats have been compromising and capitulating at almost every turn while the Republicans have staunchly refused to do this.
The CARES Act was a compromise, the refusal by the House to enforce subpoenas was a compromise. Even their choice of presidential candidate is a compromise of sorts, see Biden's "nothing would fundamentally change" comment to donors. Where do you see obstructionism on their part?
A number of places, but just for example: Sanctuary cities. Even though they lost the battle on the federal level, the cities try their best to obstruct the enforcement of federal law.
In the political context obstructionism refers to attempts to delay or otherwise interfere with the legislative process. Which the Democrats may engage in, but I haven't seen any evidence demonstrating that.
Sanctuary cities do not obstruct the legislative process, they are just a form civil disobedience. This probably can be deemed obstruction of justice, but that has nothing to do with obstructionism.
[2] An old trick for maintaining the peace in a herd is to put out more piles of hay than there are horses, so the dominant horses can politic to their hearts' content but everyone still gets fed.
I read both Suetonius and Tacitus before I was twenty (Penguin classics, might have been excerpts). I don't remember them well, but I remember Suetonius better.
What I have read elsewhere is that the family violence of the first twelve caesars was really very restrited, and they otherwise governed reasonably well. There might be exceptions (Caligula) but there were enough in the twelve that were reasonable rulers despite personal perversions.
Caligula might have opened a brothel with senators' wives, and Messalina might have challenged the greatest prostitute in Rome for her title, but the grain and money flowed where and when it was needed.
I don't think this is what we need to worry about right now. Absent any real problems, we'd reelect the current Occupant. Fortunately (?) for all of us Maddow addicts, we've had a real problem this election year. So, we'll get a different confused loudmouth old white man from the urban Northeast who likes non-consensual digital penetration. Yay!?
For all his faults, at least Domitian wasn't a puppet of armaments manufacturers and surveillance capitalists.
>> Therefore, it was no exaggeration to argue that rhetoric — a quintessentially Roman art — “had died with public liberty.”
I beg your pardon? "Quintessentially Roman"? "Rhetoric"? That is even a Greek word. Rhetoric was invented and taught by the Greeks to the world: Demosthenes, Lucurgus, Lysias, Protagoras, Gorgias, Isocrates, Antiphon, Aeschines, Andocides, Dinarchus, Hypereides, Isaeus... those were the great orators of antiquity. And they were not Romans.
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[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 43.1 ms ] thread2. The US imported 450 billion USD of goods from China in 2019, and exported 100 billion. Germany imported 120 billion USD of goods from China, and exported 115 billion USD.
3. Germany, unlike the US, is currently not seeing a resurgence of fascists wearing nazi flags, defending nazi memorials, and open-carrying assault rifles at protests (And occasionally discharging handguns into other people, after they trying to drive their car through a crowd.)
Of all the countries at risk of sliding into authoritarianism in the next five years, Germany would not be at the top of my list.
3. Germany, unlike the US, is currently not seeing a resurgence of communists wearing ancom flags, attempting a violent cultural revolution by attacking memorials, and discharging handguns into vehicles trying to escape from rioters.
Of all the countries at risk of sliding into authoritarianism in the next five years, Germany would not be at the top of my list.
Which ones?
A big problem in the US is that Congress has abandoned so much power as an institution.
And if suspect that you should be able to tell that, if you care to actually look.
Sanctuary cities do not obstruct the legislative process, they are just a form civil disobedience. This probably can be deemed obstruction of justice, but that has nothing to do with obstructionism.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EA1SK5vXkAQAEAS?format=jpg&name=...
[1] as opposed to King Stork (Perry 44).
[2] An old trick for maintaining the peace in a herd is to put out more piles of hay than there are horses, so the dominant horses can politic to their hearts' content but everyone still gets fed.
What I have read elsewhere is that the family violence of the first twelve caesars was really very restrited, and they otherwise governed reasonably well. There might be exceptions (Caligula) but there were enough in the twelve that were reasonable rulers despite personal perversions.
Caligula might have opened a brothel with senators' wives, and Messalina might have challenged the greatest prostitute in Rome for her title, but the grain and money flowed where and when it was needed.
For all his faults, at least Domitian wasn't a puppet of armaments manufacturers and surveillance capitalists.
I beg your pardon? "Quintessentially Roman"? "Rhetoric"? That is even a Greek word. Rhetoric was invented and taught by the Greeks to the world: Demosthenes, Lucurgus, Lysias, Protagoras, Gorgias, Isocrates, Antiphon, Aeschines, Andocides, Dinarchus, Hypereides, Isaeus... those were the great orators of antiquity. And they were not Romans.