One of the biggest indicators of a political system's fall is always the gradual destruction of norms. The collapse of the Roman Republic came after over 2 generations of politicians gradually bucking all respect for traditional practice and decorum. They did increasingly egregious things to get... - ThreadSky

sixfish11.bsky.social • 116 days ago

One of the biggest indicators of a political system's fall is always the gradual destruction of norms. The collapse of the Roman Republic came after over 2 generations of politicians gradually bucking all respect for traditional practice and decorum. They did increasingly egregious things to get...

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sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

... their pet projects or reforms passed due to the increasing polarization of the opposing side. At first this would take the form of vetoing debate, rigging elections, etc.. but then would spiral into violence. Even politicians with arguably good intentions (i.e. the gracchi) would resort to...

sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

... political violence to literally beat the life out of their opponents who would, at that point, be just as inclined to come after them. This eventually escalated to the point that private roman citizens engaged in civil wars against the state and/or their rivals over things like land reform and..

sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

...and citizenship rights. All of it can be traced back to senators making decisions that bucked the norms of Roman political society and attempted to shut out any opposition voice (beginning with the rich attempted to monopolize and privatize land). My biggest fear right now is that the U.S. will..

sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

..go down the same path. Our entire political establishment has been increasingly shameless in the aftermath of the Reagan revolution (the roots go deeper, I know) and in the wake of the culture wars and the proliferation of internet to the average person radicalization has become the norm...

sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

... to the point that you can probably convince many average people that incredibly illegal or unethical things are totally justifiable when done by people in power they like. This is mainly a comment on Republicans and Trump as democrats have yet to establish a cult leader like him, but that...

sixfish11.bsky.social•116 days ago

...doesn't mean it can't happen. We need to watch carefully how Trump uses the military within the borders of the U.S. during the next 4 years, as well as how he uses his pardon power. While he may have vast sweeping legal powers, his treatment of norms will set the tone for decades to come.

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