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>https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/weve-waited-nearly-15-years-for-this/
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Roman corruption then
Roman corruption. Still
We’ve waited nearly 15 years for this
By Simon Black - April 20, 2023
Via Sovereign Man
Thousands of years ago on the 27th of July, 54 BC, the famed Roman senator Cicero wrote a letter to his friend Atticus complaining about all the corruption and bribery that was destroying Rome’s political system.
There was an important election taking place that year for Roman consul, which had once been considered among the highest political offices in the republic.
But by 54 BC, the consuls were just political stooges… because the real power was held behind the scenes by none other than Julius Caesar, and his rival Pompey the Great.
Caesar and Pompey both spent enormous amounts of money to make sure their people won the elections; it was very similar to how today’s biggest political donors spend millions of dollars to push their hand-picked candidates into office. The politicians are just puppets; the real power is the money behind them.
Caesar and Pompey were certainly wealthy guys at the time. But the election of 54 BC set off a financial arms race between the two, with each one trying to out-spend the other to manipulate the election.
One of Pompey’s candidates– a man named Scaurus the Younger– was actually charged with extortion.
Two other candidates allegedly attempted to bribe a large voting bloc known as the centuria praerogativa for a whopping 10 million sesterces; this would be the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars today.
Another candidate alleged that the two outgoing consuls had been bribed with four million sesterces. The bribery allegations went on and on.
The election of 54 BC was so corrupt and cost so much money that Caesar, Pompey, and their candidates had to borrow heavily from investors to finance all the bribery.