I wonder if they saw it coming?

I wonder what the Roman senators felt like when it finally dawned on them that their republic was gone, transformed into an empire that would combine both great expanse and grotesque corruption? How did your average German citizen feel when they realized their republican experiment had turned to evil?

I am being overly melodramatic, perhaps, but I truly fear for the fate of the American republic. These are not just bad policies and incompetent government, We have lived through that before. It is not even just a deceitful war where the administration couldn't and wouldn't tell us why we were fighting and dying. We came through Viet Nam and Watergate without really wondering if the nation would survive.

But today--why is this experience different? I have been trying to get my arms around that concept for quite a while now, and then it dawned on me. This administration has accomplished something that past miscreants could not--they changed the way we think. Ladies and gentlemen, the revolution was televised, and we were watching something else.

Just think about a few things for a second. American citizens, no matter how we may feel about their conduct and crimes, are rounded up and held without charges indefinitely. You hear people say daily that they don't mind government eavesdropping because they have "nothing to hide." Folks, do you realize that a couple of centuries ago, these grievances helped to fuel a revolution? Now instead of changing our government, we change the channel.

A couple of young reporters brought down a president when I was in high school. Now, the press doesn't even care that the White House sets a stooge in their midst--who just happens to be a gay prostitute, and the "newspaper of record" serves as the adiministration's PR firm beating the drum for the Iraq war. They refuse to say anything for fear of being cut off from an administration that says nothing.

What about the political process? Well, the last two presidential elections may well have been stolen and we all go meekly about our business. A disgraced Tom Delay is not ostracized for his theft and conscience-shocking avarice, but rather, is rewarded with a seat on the approriations committee. What about the "loyal opposition?" Despite having an agenda supported by a majority of Americans, and even with the gift that keeps on giving of Republican corruption and incompetence, the Democrats still appear muddled and marginalized. The presidency is a fraud, Congress has been bought and paid for, votes won't matter and the Democrats are are lost somewhere on DuPont Circle.

And then there is the war. I have beating my head against this particular wall for years. We know it was a lie (I would like to think that most saw it as a lie at the time, but alas I cannot). We know that it has caused tremendous harm domestically and internationally, and sadly, the results were absolutely predictable. While we have not spilled as much American blood as in Viet Nam, we have done much more damage. That war was fought within the carefully constructed paradigm of a cold war world that bears no resemblance to today, where power is dispersed across various religious and ethic groups, new national forces, oil cartels and foreign banks.

In addition, there is a psychological aspect to the war in Iraq. There was talk about a "Viet Nam" syndrome in the past, of a scarring resulting from a defeat at the hand of that tiny country. The Iraq syndrome is different, because it involves the final shattering of an illusion. The reality may well have been long dead, and in some ways perhaps always a fantasy, but Americans could always cling to the comforting belief that we were the good guys. Now we have to squarely face the sad and ugly truth that we are the despised villain, and that we have brought this upon ourselves. In this new century, might does not make right--might makes chaos.

Republics come and go, sometimes with fanfare, sometimes in silence. Do you hear anything? And I do indeed wonder how those Romans felt.