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Showing posts from April 13, 2010

Epiphany - reprint of an earlier post with comments

This is a reprint of a post I did back in November of 2007. With the political landscape of today it is even more relevant. I am reading The Columbia History of the World right now (maybe that explains the lack of whimsy - 1100 pages plus written in textbook form) I am reading now about the Roman empire/republic. I came to a passage that almost shocked me with it's relevance to my thoughts of today. Here it is: (and I quote giving all rights to the book) Rome ceded more easily to the demand for citizenship because her supply of citizen soldiers had continued to dwindle, and her mob of citizens without property, to grow. Of the attempts to reverse these changes the most famous were those of the Gracchi brothers in 133 and 123. Relyng on bourgeouis support, they advocated extension of citizenship to the allies, resettlement of small farmers on public land (hitherto rented to senators at minimal rates) resumption of colonization, and provision of grain at less than market rates to