patrick.ainge.com

In an op-ed column in the New York Times today author Robert Harris creates some very intriguing parallels between the recent political climate in the United States and Rome circa 68 B.C.

IN the autumn of 68 B.C. the world’s only military superpower was dealt a profound psychological blow by a daring terrorist attack on its very heart. Rome’s port at Ostia was set on fire, the consular war fleet destroyed, and two prominent senators, together with their bodyguards and staff, kidnapped.

The incident, dramatic though it was, has not attracted much attention from modern historians. But history is mutable. An event that was merely a footnote five years ago has now, in our post-9/11 world, assumed a fresh and ominous significance. For in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty. One cannot help wondering if history is repeating itself.

excerpt from:

Pirates of the Mediterranean
By ROBERT HARRIS
Published: September 30, 2006
New York Times