AND Magazine "In 27 BC Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus became Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. The Roman Republic, plagued by violence and civil war, for years was dead. It would never return. The Romans, who had built the Republic into the dominant Mediterranean power had killed their own creation.
"We may not be far from a similar fate."
"Ultimately, a republic is built on the bedrock of respect for institutions and the rule of law. At the end of a long, bitter political campaign the backers of the losing candidate go home peacefully only because they trust the result of the election and they respect the institutions of government. They do not concede and accept the rule of a party or individual they oppose out of fear. They do this because their belief in the sanctity of the system is more powerful than their belief in a political party or any one man.
"In America, this respect for our institutions and the rule of law is rapidly eroding. We are transitioning at breakneck pace from a democratic system to one based on mob violence and the abuse of the power of the state. If we cannot reverse this trend, we too will soon find that a republic we believed immortal is a thing of the past.
"The Democratic Party, increasingly under the control of oligarchs and ideologues, made a conscious decision years ago to seek political power via a variety of extra-legal mechanisms. Believing the ends justify the means, the Democrats decided that reliance upon free and fair elections was too risky and began to employ a series of measures that would allow them to seize and exercise power without the vagaries of free and fair elections:". . . Full article here...
