Ron Unz is not exaggerating and he makes a strong case. From Unz at unz.com:
Back when I was in college, more years ago than I’d like to consider, one of my majors was Classical History, and I did quite a lot of original research in that field. Then after I graduated and began my doctoral studies in Theoretical Physics, I took a little time to write up some of that work and published several articles in the leading scholarly journals.
My own area of study had been Greek and Hellenistic history, but I naturally picked up a reasonable knowledge of Rome as well, and although decades have passed some of that still remains in my memory.
Like most ancient states, Rome had originally been ruled by kings, but according to legend the last ones were overthrown by Lucius Junius Brutus, who founded the Republic and then had the Roman people swear a mighty oath to never again allow any man to rule them as king.
The republicanism of Brutus was of a very stern type, and while serving as the chief Roman magistrate, he willingly had his own sons and other close relatives executed for plotting to reestablish the monarchy. For many centuries, young Roman children were raised on such harsh patriotic stories, and a deep hatred of monarchy and kings became a central element of Rome’s political culture.
The Roman Republic eventually defeated Carthage in the long Punic Wars of the third century B.C. and then conquered most of the Mediterranean world. This produced a vast inflow of wealth and slaves from Rome’s newly acquired empire, leading to the impoverishment of many ordinary Roman farmers and severe social and economic stresses in Roman society. The eventual consequences were numerous political upheavals, including the murders of popular reformist leaders and even the outbreak of civil wars, with all of this deadly turmoil representing the severe decay of Rome’s republican institutions. The era of the Late Republic saw various periods of dictatorship by victorious military commanders, but all of those leaders always insisted that their rule was strictly temporary and none of them ever dared adopt any monarchical pretensions.
The last and most important of these was Julius Caesar, Rome’s greatest conquering general. After winning a bitter civil war, he became the all-powerful ruler and was eventually proclaimed “dictator for life.”
The Hebrew Yammer won’t declare Decider for life but an esteemed CPUSA (D) party member might.
The republic is long gone.
Plan accordingly.