Quote:
Originally Posted by uh-oh
nonsense
america may have a better cover of wool to pull over the eyes of the people, but rome at least had a political office with actual power that spoke for the plebs/poor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_of_the_Plebs
while sure if you wanted to be consul (like a president) and you had the "peoples" best interests at heart you would most likely be knifed. like the countless number who did just that and met that fate. but you could always be the tribune of the plebs
if the senate and or consuls wanted to do something that wasn't in their favor the tribune of the plebs could just veto it. and they would have to go along with it. the office was sacred. you couldn't harm them or go against them.
and you can argue that well the richest would always get voted in to normal seats, and it was set up so the noble families already had the power and influence to be elected, but how is it different today?
even at the local level the candidate with more money has more influence and just better name recognition. if there is a sign for bumfuck mcgillicutty in every yard, when you go to vote how likely are you to vote for the other guy you never heard of. it was the same back then
if TIDUS SATURNUS JUPITERNIUS shows up on the BLOCK with a cart full of bread for the people, they're gonna vote for him
its the same
humans don't change. |
It's not different from today, I'm just saying the Romans were much more blatant about it.
And the tribune of the plebs was a great idea, but it was only relevant within the City of Rome.