Endless Comparisons: The Romans

                If you've ever taken a history class, I’m sure you have it burned into your brain as much as I do that the only way to learn from our past is to study it and learn. It seems so simple, but this notion needed to be said this bluntly to get the point across to many of us. The United States is often compared to many great and not so great civilizations, but none as often as we are compared to the Romans. This comparison is often made for a good reason; we are incredibly similar to the Romans in many ways and most people would agree that we’d like to keep ourselves from suffering the same fate as they did.

The Romans had the earliest form of a modern democracy; the Roman Republic had an incredibly complex system of checks and balances and public forums for people to voice their opinions, while the Roman Empire had a less complicated system that seemed to feign democracy, instead favoring a more monarch-style, though the Emperor still had councils of advisors. The Senate in both the republic and the empire were deemed to be an advisory council to the magistrates and the emperors, respectively. In the Republic, the senators were from aristocratic families, and there were other councils made up of ordinary citizens to allow their voices to be heard. In the Roman Empire, the Senators were publicly elected. They weren't allowed to make laws, but they had many other critical duties to keep in mind. For example, the Senate’s “advice” was taken most of the time by the magistrates, and since they were the group in charge of foreign policy in a republic that progressed into an imperialist machine, they were often consulted when war was the matter. If this sounds familiar, it’s because our Senate also has the power to declare war, though we gave it to them explicitly in our Constitution instead of the Senate gaining the power over time.

Though the system of checks and balances in the Roman Republic was complex and well thought out, its main flaw was separating the citizens into classes and giving them a place in politics based on their class. People who were wealthy seemed to control politics, even though they claimed to take the advice from all citizens. This caused a great deal of disharmony among the classes. There were also laws against non-citizens obtaining certain rights as well as restrictions for becoming a Roman citizen, and even if you were a citizen sometimes people were denied what we now consider basic rights. As an example, though women were allowed to become citizens, they could neither vote nor own property. Women were still fighting for these rights in our country less than a decade ago, and with the recent repeal of several key aspects of the voting rights act, people worry that they may have to fight for these rights again soon.

Is it narcissistic to compare ourselves to one of the most notorious and famous civilizations of all time? Perhaps it is. However, the fact that there are so many comparisons to be made, only a few of which have been stated here, somewhat justifies this comparison of two world super powers. What can we do to avoid being overthrown by a rival? Theodore Roosevelt would say to speak softly and carry a big stick, but I would argue we also must have some compassion in our pocket and to allow our voices to be heard, not recreated by a politician.

Bibliography

Fagan, Garrett G. "An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families." Roman Emperors. Pennsylvania State University, 17 May 2006. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.