Faithful political representatives of the people in ancient Rome participated in peaceful negotiation and regular compromise with their adversaries.
This concept of “concordia” was so highly admired by the citizenry that a temple and a bronze statue were built for lady compromise, and people worshipped her as a god in heaven. The nation knew that conceding ground was better than civil war.
Besides the virtuous habits of elected officials, there were other, legal avenues to guarantee the peace in Rome. One was an effort made to preserve a written law that assured rights for all, and another was a regularly-used impeachment process for public officials who overlooked the law.
Still another way to achieve harmony between individuals and social classes was to enforce short terms of office, so politicians did not have time to burrow into hardened silos.
Today, almost everyone holding power in Washington has been there for decades. We need more education about the Constitution, more impeachment, and shorter terms of office.
Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross
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