What's sad is that you get so much right in your review of historical precedent...and so much wrong on your application of modern analogies. Yes...the FF's were devotees of the British/Western enlightenment thought...in particular Rousseau, Locke and the economics of Adam Smith. Yes...we are direct descendants of the "intended and defined" principles of Greek democracy and Roman Republicanism...they bequeathed the very concepts of open and rational debate and the need for free men to speak openly their thoughts. Like them, we often fall short of our own aspirations...but aspirations matter nonetheless as they set a template for future generations. Your primary failing is that you romanticize The Republic and especially Athenian democracy...their major fault being the vicissitudes of demagogic reaction to the tides of passion and emotion (executing general's who were competent yet failed to win a battle or conflict-exiling members over personal feuds-etcetera).
So I would argue this...our leaders today are EXACTLY like the members of the Athenian Assembly...egotistical, careening wildly to win public favor, making dirty backroom deals, dishonest and credulous when its suits their desired outcomes, quick to betray allies and politically crush opponents in corrupt and unfair ways. In some ways we are living Athenian democracy...the very reason we formed a Republic was to temper such emotional, corrupt and demagogic swings of sentiment...and yet we are constantly on that roller coaster. Even as a Republic, we echo the failings of Rome...men like Steve Scalise shot down in cold blood no less than the Grachii were chased and murdered at the direction of the Senate (albeit covertly in the case of Scalise through Dems like Maxine Waters who called for "get in their face and pursue them everywhere" tactics).
If you want an analogy for President Trump, the Grachii are it (though a case could also be made for a Julius Caesar analogy). The Grachii both attempted great reform in favor of the working class...and yes, with a motive of political self interest accompanying any altruistic leanings...to reshape the power structure underpinning the "elites" (what we today call the Establishment...which bridges both parties as it did in Rome (wealthy and powerful Patricians and Plebeians alike).Trump has earned the hatred of our present day Patricians and Plebeians...loosely analogous to GOP/Dems...by threatening the Establishment structure that elevates both. And yet, like the Grachii...and Caesar at times...Trump has striven to crush that Establishment and restore some sense that it is the body of the people (Rome's Assembly) to whom all in governance owe their obeisance.
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Sad you're sad, yet fair comments.
Nevertheless your conflation of British Philosophers, such as George Berkeley, David Hume
and John Locke w/the likes of French Enlightenment Radicals, among them, Rousseau,
St. Juste and Voltaire, is improper and absurd.
English Empiricists had their issues w/both Crown and Parliament, yet overthrow and replacement was never part of their agenda.
In contrast, the likes of Rousseau, a festering radical, embraced the nostrum that,
"Betterment in Man's physical condition was a noble and virtuous calling", one of the most
pernicious ideas ever birthed and for which we continue to pay the price.
The agenda of Rousseau and his 'fellow travelers' was to upend French (and European) culture/society by appealing to Material Betterment as a source of achievement/pride for
Man, in the process pushing aside his Spiritual Sensibilities as his primary source of well being and virtue.
Following the demise of the French Monarchy, Marxist Ideas soon dawned along side
Socialism and the rest of the Progressive Agenda. Since then, Materialism never looked back!
What has been the impact of this sea change on Man over the past 300 years???
One measure are the Ideas he produces be it in the form of Architecture, Literature,
Philosophy, Science; among many powerful disciplines.
So, suggest one compare and contrast that produced before and after 1725
As for romanticizing Athenian Governance, no need, as Pericles spoke for me very long ago.
Further, Julius Caesar's name does not belong in any commentary mentioning either
Trump the Buffoon or that horses ass, Maxine Waters, even if it's longer than the Bible!