[Peace-discuss] has Congress become Useless?

[C. G. Estabrook]

  BTW if we wanted to look at the classical parallels (Caesar, Rome, etc.) we 
should convene an on-going AWARE seminar on a vast and absolutely brilliant book 
(sprightly & well-written, too) -

    G. E. M. de Ste. Croix (1982) "The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek 
World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests."

It tells the story of the gradual but complete eradication of Greek democracy 
after Augustus and argues that it was increasing inequality that was the actual 
cause of the collapse.

On 8/9/10 6:04 PM, John W. wrote:
>
>  On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Ron Szoke <r-szoke at illinois.edu
>  <mailto:r-szoke at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>
>
>
>  The book referred to is _The Coming Caesars_, by Amaury de Riencourt
>  (Coward-McCann, 1957, 384 pages)
>
>  "It is the contention of this book that expanding democracy leads
>  unintentionally to imperialism and that imperialism inevitably ends
>  in destroying the republican institutions of earlier days;  further,
>  that the greater the social equality, the dimmer the prospects of
>  liberty, and that as society becomes more equalitarian, it tends
>  increasingly to concentrate absolute power in the hands of one single
>  man"  (p. 5).
>
>
>  That's absolutely fascinating.  I don't know if the thesis is always
>  correct (it seems counterintuitive on its face), but the writer must
>  have been brilliant to come up with a theory like that, and argue it
>  cogently.
>
>
>
>
>  This might be compared with Cullen Murphy, _Are We Rome?_:  The Fall
>  of an Empire and the Fate of America (2007).
>
>  -- Ron

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