The Plebeian Pitfall
The spotlight shines only on a few, or one. For longer than anyone can remember, the most privileged have stood in the gleaming light, adorned with great power. It’s a human condition as old as time.
The threat or actual use of violence is, of course, a primary means of maintaining that power, but not the sole means, not even the most effective. The powerful cannot remain so unless those who are ruled accept their supremacy. Once that acceptance begins to crumble, not even the most ruthless violence is sure to prevent a ruler’s fall.
The Roman Republic was established more than 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, one of the world’s earliest experiments with a republican form of government. It lasted for close to half a millennium, coming to an end less than three decades before Christ’s birth.
Patricians were the aristocratic, land-owning elite in ancient Rome who held exclusive control over political, religious and legal offices. The rest of the populace—the lower and middle classes, the commoners—were known as plebeians.
In ancient Rome, patricians were in charge because they regarded themselves as aristocrats and actively sought to adorn themselves with authority they considered their birthright, but also because plebeians cooperated with the adornment, saw them as elite, as worthy to rule. So it is in modern-day America. Today’s patricians are seen, even celebrated, as special.
Our current president is loved by some, hated by many, watched by everyone. He has proven to be an erratic if not completely inept commander in chief, but the one and perhaps only thing he can indisputably command is a stage. He has genius-level ability to attract attention, keep himself forever in the spotlight. All eyes are on him, doesn’t matter if he’s being worshipped or savaged, he’s the subject of daily conversation. He is a living testament to the old saying all news is good news. He dominates every news cycle.
This is how he wound up in the White House in the first place. This is why despite historically low public approval during his first term, he managed to win a second one. People can’t stop thinking about him, can’t resist talking about him. By obsessing over him for so long, we made him strong. By continuing to obsess over him, we prop him up. We’ve fallen into the same trap ancient Rome’s plebeians fell into, shining light and thereby bestowing ruling privileges on a patrician’s patrician.
In politics, sadly, the single most influential factor determining election outcomes is name recognition. The current president has made it his life’s mission to make his one of the most recognizable names on Earth. He’s aided immeasurably by America’s plebeians, who utter the name countless times every day.
Knowing this, I try my level best to resist, consciously avoid bringing him up. Don’t bother speculating on his motivations, there’s no looking into his heart. Don’t speculate on his physical or mental fitness, there’s no diagnosing from a distance. Been sharing thoughts here on a wide variety of topics for going on four years now. This is my 203rd post. Out of the first 202 articles, only 14 mentioned him by name. Even those 14 were not about him, they were about us, our problems, our blessings, our past, our future. But fleeting references were made to him because his words or actions were pertinent to the subjects being addressed.
Try as I might to sidestep the plebeian pitfall, I bear witness to the power of patricians, seeing how devoting only 7% of my attention to him and his regime works to my own detriment. Of the more than 200 articles shared prior to this one, the most-read one by a longshot—with nearly three times as many readers as my average posts get—was essentially about him, well, an especially odious lieutenant of his. If I wrote about him more, I’d surely have a larger readership.
I take solace from the fact that my most-read article also is about what happened when plebeians of yesteryear got tired of patricians throwing their weight around and the spell they were under finally broke. Happened before, will happen again, once our focus shifts from him to us, our problems, our blessings, our past, our future.
