Status Updates From The Assassination of Julius...

“It is always assumed that a leader … is motivated only by vainglorious impulse. It may also be … a way of strengthening his public image thereby maximizing his political clout. Caesar’s concern was not to lord over the common people but to outdo a powerfully entrenched aristocratic oligarchy. By elevating himself above that plutocracy, he was more likely to attain success with his reform agenda.”

“To this day, defenders of class privilege resort to ad hominem attacks, maligning any leader who pursues policies on behalf of the common people as a self-promoting demagogue, a panderer intent upon usurping power”

“It is a time-honored practice to blame “rash” and “provocative” reformers for the violence delivered upon them by reactionary forces.”

“Facing a popular upsurge against their illegal land holdings, the oligarchs could not easily attack Tiberius’s law. So they attacked Tiberius himself. They took every opportunity to denounce him as a demagogue and tyrant who was intent upon crowning himself king.”

Can’t attack the message, so they attack the messenger

« that is the inescapable essence of slavery: The degrading exploitation of one human being so that another may pursue whatever comforts and advantages wealth might confer. Ultimately, the same can be said of all exploitative class relations perpetrated by those who accumulate wealth for themselves by reducing others to poverty. »