Budgets and Government - What We've Learned Since Rome

My buddy Arkady Faktorovich sent me this one:


What we have learned in 2,064 years.....

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome becomes bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." --- Cicero - 55 BC & E L 2011

So, apparently we have learned ------- NOTHING!!!

Note: The quote above is slightly different than the original, but the point is the same. The actual quote is: "The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall."

Cicero nailed it. In fact, the Founding Fathers were big fans of Cicero (whose writings were in Latin, and many of the founders were fluent in a number of languages, some of them in Latin).

The Founding Fathers looked to Rome - Republican Rome - during their research. Sure, Greece, and Slovenia's short independence hundreds of years earlier, were also considerations, as well as Israel (from which the basic building blocks of our government come from). Cicero's writings were exactly in line with what the goals of the founders were, so they drew from them often.

In today's liberal dominated education system, Cicero has all but vanished from the curriculum.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Quote from Cicero of Ancient Rome about Balancing the Budget, Reducing Public Debt, and Curtailing Foreign Assistance - Truth! or Fiction!

What did the Founding Fathers learn from Cicero? - American Creation

Israel and the Founding Fathers: "Structuring a New Government" The 5000 Year Leap - by W. Cleon Skousen