On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:01:26 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:


"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:14:04 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Gunner" wrote in message
...
...
"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be
reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and
controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced,
if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again
learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

(Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C.)

Instead their Republic descended into civil war followed by
dictatorship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus

To which the crowd replied "Got AMMO?"


Nah, back then civilians had no effective way to resist bands of large
men with swords, either soldiers or bandits.

I meant the new crowd, the one reading about Cicero.


The crowds were easily satisfied with subsidized Bread and Circuses,
the rich and powerful by luxury imports such as silk from China.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
"The Roman Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to prohibit the
wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds: the importation of
Chinese silk caused a huge outflow of gold, and silk clothes were
considered to be decadent and immoral"

As if immorality ever bothered a politician of any age...

--
While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that only tragedy
is to allow part of us to die - whether it is our spirit, our
creativity, or our glorious uniqueness.
-- Gilda Radner