Crossing the Rubicon ?

Although the study of history has been and still is prevalent in my family, I have never been much of a history buff. Therefore, when I read the phrase, “crossing the Rubicon,” in a 4/3/23 piece by Michael Ryall, I was clueless.

Most of the following is from that same Ryall commentary piece.

First some history:

“The time was 49 BC. The players were Julius Caesar and the members of Rome’s Senate. Caesar had shown himself to be one of the most gifted generals in Rome’s history: In a remarkable series of campaigns starting in 58 BC and conducted over approximately eight years, Caesar turned Gaul from a hostile territory into a pacified Roman province.

Caesar’s goal was to become ruler of Rome. He was popular with the common people and often championed their interests against Rome’s powerful elites. The elites had enriched themselves by corrupting public officials to accumulate vast tracts of land at the expense of those less powerful. As a result of his military success, widespread popularity, and populist policies, it’s no surprise that the elite interests in the Senate vehemently opposed Caesar. In 49 BC the senate made its move: It ordered him to disband his army.

This left Caesar with a difficult decision: He could disband his army and return to Rome, and most likely fail in his goal, or he could march his army across the river Rubicon and take power in an open act of rebellion. The latter move would make civil war inevitable.

Caesar chose the latter course. As he crossed the Rubicon, he famously said, ‘Alea iacta est’ (the die is cast). This move did, indeed, lead to a civil war, which Caesar eventually won. He took power, established the dictatorial Roman empire, and, in doing so, ended the republic. Ultimately, it also led to Caesar’s murder on March 15, 44 BC at the hands of his Senate enemies.

In modern usage, ‘crossing the Rubicon’ refers to an irreversible act that commits one to a fateful course of events. This usage relies on the idea that it was Caesar’s decision to cross the Rubicon that ultimately caused the collapse of Rome’s republican form of government.

When I finished this Ryall piece, I saw some striking similarities between Caesar crossing the Rubricon and what is happening in today’s political milieu. 

The major tensions had been building in Rome for decades. One trend was political corruption: The elite increasingly used their power to pass laws that favored their interests. 

To me, similarly, tensions have been building in the USA for decades. The stolen election in 2020 was only the latest event where the elites in today’s America used their political influence to go contrary to the will of the general populace.

Back in 49BC, Caesar was the good guy, and a friend of the common man. He was going against the powerful elites in Rome. In today’s atmosphere, I postulate that the Washington elites are increasingly becoming the enemies of the common people. 

Back then in Rome there was rising economic inequality: The interests that were being favored were those that led to elite control of most of the land resources, which—in an agrarian society—resulted in the widespread loss of economic opportunity among the common people.

Consistently, throughout the Biden years common everyday Americans have become the enemy. Throughout Covid, the elite who were in charge consistently went contrary to what the common man wanted … schools were closed, businesses ruined, the Covid vaccine which turned out not to work very well, was mandated. Similar to the Roman Senate elite, those in power “knew best,” and the vast multitude of everyday Americans suffered. This pattern still continues today … e.g. parents at school board meetings, prosecuting Christians silently praying outside abortion centers while letting BLM rioters off without anything!

The major difference today is a role reversal of sorts. Here could the crossing of the Rubicon be the charges brought against Trump by a biased prosecutor and a trial judge with connections to Biden/Harris through his daughter.

Back in 49 BC Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon led to a protracted civil war, and I’m afraid that in 2023 that the die may well have been cast that is bringing us closer to the same.

4/6/23