Saturday, October 10, 2009

Lessons from the Roman Republic

Although Rome is famous for its vast empire, few realize that Rome was once a republic. In 509 B.C.E. the Roman nobility replaced the Etruscan monarchy with an aristocratic republic. Designed for a small city-state, the government consisted of two consuls with executive power, who were elected by an assembly who wielded legislative authority. This assembly was made up of wealthy aristocrats who spoke on behalf of all Roman people. Since the wealthy dominated the Senate and made all major decisions on behalf of all Romans, tensions rose between the common people and the aristocrats. With tensions rising between socioeconomic classes, the patricians (wealthy members of society) allowed the common people to elect officials called tribunes to represent them in the government. Because of this, Rome became a more participatory republic.
Meanwhile, Rome was expanding its territory with its highly disciplined military, and it was establishing its presence around the Mediterranean basin. New land and wealth brought power to Rome, which would eventually account for Rome's republican downfall. Wealth and power brought benefits for some, but problems for many. The Roman constitution no longer was effective now that Rome had expanded beyond a small city-state and was now a vast empire. Class tensions rose due to the unequal redistribution of wealth and land.
People who tried to fix Rome's problems were assassinated by the conservative and aristocratic leaders trying to maintain their political status and power. Political power remained in the hands of the wealthy and the privileged, instead of opportunity being distributed throughout all classes of Roman society. When it was clear that the constitution needed reworking, Roman civil and military leaders started personal armies of common people to gain power. In the first century B.C.E. Rome fell into civil war. Eventually, Julius Caesar rose to power and even though he established an imperial form of government, he favored liberal policies and social reform and because he alienated many of the Roman elite and favored the common people, the elite assassinated him on March 15, 44 B.C.E.
Today, in America, problems such as the rule of an elite class of citizens and unequal redistribution of wealth, are real. We are a country that brings in wealth and power. How can the government positively deal with these benefits of a powerful nation? Redistribution of obtained wealth will prevent the wealth and power being consolidated in an elite class. If it is aimed at the elite class, political power is sure to follow. Self-government cannot become a reality if wealth and power are aimed at the privileged since the wealthy will obtain political power that was once in the hands of the people. Equal social and economic opportunity are basic axioms of an enlightened and democratic society and by aiming them at a certain class, putting the interests of others to the side, our republican experiment has failed.

Join me in a study of past republics!

Recently, I have decided to do a study of past republics on this blog, and together we may be able to see what we can learn from them. These will be republics ranging from the beginning of time to the creation of our republic, the United States of America. We will look mainly at the reasons that the republics failed, but we will also look at some of their triumphs. It is important that we study history so that we may learn from its mistakes and its failures, so that we may improve on them.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Still on Top

On the computer one day, I happily typed in "United States Economy" into Wikipedia, hoping that a page would come up that I could skim, and find some useful information to store in the back of my head. I was surprised to find that even though most Americans feel like our economy is falling, we are still on top. Our nominal GDP is still three times the size of the world's second largest economy, Japan. Our GDP by Purchasing Power Parity is twice that of China, the competitor today. I find that we were number two on the Global Competitiveness Report. I thought that we would be second to China, which many Americans would agree with that guess. We were second, however, to Switzerland. So then I thought to myself, what makes the countries other than us economic powerhouses. Most of these countries are European, and many on the right would say "Oh they are socialist, we don't want to be like them at all." Let's look at Sweden and Denmark, who come in at four and five. Sweden has a mixed economy that depends on foreign trade and it has very skilled workers. This may get many right-wingers scratching their heads, but they have a government-funded health care system. Sweden has deregulated its economy since the 1990's but it is still more regulated than ours is today. Now let's move to Denmark. The country boasts the lowest level of income inequality and the highest minimum wage in the world. This country has granted its people a lot of economic freedom compared to other European countries, which can also account for its high ranking. Get this, Denmark also has an almost entirely funded health care system. Now that just doesn't make sense. Low income inequality, high minimum wage, and a government-run health-care system? I wrote this to show that some economies that may seem to be more socialized or "socialistic" than ours, sometimes work. I am not saying that America should be socialist, but I am saying that the countries that will be at the top of the Global Competitiveness Report most likely will not be advocates of laissez-faire capitalism. The other note is that socialized medicine does not ruin an economy the way many people on the right would suggest. If we do not fix our health care system or find a way to fix the financial sectors of our economy, we will be ruined and the answer is a middle-way between socialism and the free-market. I predict that America will be on top of the economy for many years, but if these issues are not addressed reasonably through a study of history and experience, we be knocked off. But for now, we are still #1 overall.