S3 E60 A Time for Reasoned Choices

Episode discussion topics <ul><li>How the power of faction can bring the demise of a republic. Ideology is never a good substitute for reasoned choice and is even worse when wielded by authoritarian bullies. </li> <li>Just as Presidents Lincoln and Grant had feared, the greatest threat to our republic may be from within. Will we be able to maintain the people's hold on self-rule? Will we be able to have, as President Adams said, “A government of laws, and not of men.” </li> <li>What have other republics looked like at the time of their demise? <ul><li>Consider the former Weimar Republic of Germany and how it enabled a party to come to power that converted it into a dictatorship. The heads of the conservative parties in power trusted that Adolf Hitler would not run amok and that he could be controlled. They were wrong. </li> <li>Julius Caesar was feared to be a tyrannical dictator with eyes on establishing a monarchy. He was assassinated by the fearful and a monarchy was established by his nephew. The fear brought about exactly what they feared. As it turned out, evidence was found that Julius had no intention of replacing the Roman Republic. </li> <li>Russia technically still is a republic, as is Iran as we mentioned before. Iran had a religious revolution, but how did Putin install himself for unlimited terms? Taking control of a party, rigging elections using fear and anger, and then changing the laws to keep him in power. This happened under our watch in our lifetimes. </li> </ul> </li> <li>Not so far from home, these were also the sort of systems that used to exist in the good old days of the antebellum southern gentry. A time when patriarchy and slavery reined supreme. Confederate ideology was exported, seeded, and watered throughout the nation after the failure of Reconstruction. This culture is now in all states to more or a lesser degree. </li> <li>Somehow history has repeated itself along these lines on several occasions. In each case, the groups that identified with relatively conservative ideologies b