The American experiment, riven by ever-rising partisan tensions, is beginning to come apart. Dire warnings from both the left and the right about partisan polarization preceded a contentious election. In response to the former president’s lies, with his apparent encouragement, a violent insurrectionary mob attempted to storm the legislature. It is in that context that President Joe Biden has promised to heal America and resolve some of its divisions.
Discussions about America’s collapse are not new, and they traditionally reach for one of the republics uppermost in the minds of the founders themselves, Rome. That analogy was quick to appear in discussions of the Capitol insurrection. But the collapse of Rome’s into monarchy in a spasm of violence offers few practical solutions. While Augustus put an end to the tensions of the republic, it is hardly a solution to be desired.
