John Stossel, libertarian writer and TV guy on Fox wrote a column the other day asking if we (The US) is Rome yet.

After reading the column I thought of this quote from John Adams, one of our Founding Fathers: “The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.”

Stossel had attended a FreedomFest event where a historian made the comparison. My take away comparison was the Rome was once a Republic that possessed a Constitution that limited power (the Roman Senate ruled, rather than an Emperor). Rome became an Empire by conquest and Augustus, the first Emperor to be deified, reduced the power of the Senate and eliminated the Republic but giving the illusion he had not. Later Emperors steadily reduced the Roman Senate to impotency.

(Julius Caesar, Augustus’ uncle was…