This week—the week of the Ides of March 2021—finds the world’s most powerful government, the most powerful government in all of history, in a state worse than that of ancient Rome under Julius Caesar. The difference in the American Empire and the ancient Roman Empire is that the people in power today are laboring under guilt that the election they won under questionable circumstances might have created a nation half-full of patriots who might come for them.
Plutarch wrote that, despite the warning by a seer named Spurinna predicting that the Ides of March of 44 BC harbored danger of assassination, Julius Caesar apparently gave it little thought. It is recorded that Caesar passed by the soothsayer while he was on the way to the Theater of Pompeii where he would be assassinated and joked, “The Ides of March are come.” implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied, “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”
The people, after all, had been basically convinced to bestow on the great Caesar the designation dictator perpetuo (“dictator in perpetuity”). This was done through the Roman democracy’s elective process. The dictatorial head of Roman government had no reason to fear the people. Of course, there were sixteen senators, one among them a close friend, who didn’t like the idea of having a dictator for life. The results were, of course, that we now view the 15th of March (the Ides of March) as an especially ominous date–thanks much to the Bard, William Shakespeare, and his play, Julius Caesar.
Getting back to the American equivalent in government to that ancient Roman Empire, the guilt of which I speak, of course, is obvious. Half of the US voting public—and probably much more than half—voted for the other candidate. There is much anger now smoldering just beneath the surface of societal calm that the election was stolen. It is equally apparent that the guilt festering within the ranks of those who won or stole the election, depending on which you choose to believe, has created an Ides of March-type paranoia.
Those in control have since the January 6 hubbub in Washington, DC, when the Capitol and other government buildings were attacked, reacted and continue to react like they fear an Ides of March–type Roman Senate assault on them at any moment. DC is a locked-down, armed camp, with National Guard forces and hastily constructed barriers of various sorts walling off the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Foreign intruders, mostly illegal, many carrying COVID-19 infections and other diseases, are allowed more and more access into our southern borders. American citizens are locked out, more and more, from interacting with the governmental leaders whose salaries we pay and who supposedly who work for us. The president of the United States is kept from confronting the American people as all other presidents have done. The republic, even more than was the Roman republic all those centuries ago, is in a dire way. This Ides of March indeed looks ominous, going forward.
The following news/opinion editorial illustrates, I think, the guilt-ridden nucleus of leadership.
The Department of Defense on Tuesday agreed to keep thousands of National Guard troops stationed at the U.S. Capitol until late May, extending a posting that began after rioters overwhelmed law enforcement on Capitol Hill two months ago.
The problem for Democrats is when you blatantly flaunt election law and then institute policies that no one wants (e.g. money to Iran, bombing Syria, opening the southern border, putting children in cages, passing a massive spending bill that provides handouts to your friends and pays off your debts, etc), and then install a man as President who doesn’t know where he is and is led around like a geriatric patient, you get scared Americans will see through your corruption.
Democrats complained about a southern border wall but created a wall for themselves. They demand the military guards it. But they won’t send the same troops to protect our country’s border! (Joe Hoft, “Military Agrees to Keep Thousands of National Guard Troops at US Capitol for Weeks to Protect Corrupt Democrats Who Are Terrified of the American People,” Gateway Pundit, March 10, 2021)
The reason there is such anxiety among the political entities who have surrounded themselves with protection is a matter of basic character. Americans who consider themselves to have been done wrong in the 2020 elections still believe in the constitutionally mandated way of conducting personal and national life as established by the founding fathers. They wouldn’t perpetrate such violence unless in necessity of defense of life and liberty.
Those who at present hunker fearfully behind the barriers, walls, and weaponry of the National Guard would, themselves, consider assaulting with armed insurrection to get their way. They would utilize the very militant methods of which they falsely accuse the 74 million-plus voters who oppose their proven ideological movement away from traditional American values and traditions. To know this is true, we have only to remember the destructive evil of the anarchists they encouraged and protected while those surrogate forces tore down and burned cities.
There are those who, like Julius Caesars millennia ago, are working toward making themselves dictators perpetuo. But this ambition is not among true patriots who want to retain godly morality and values, and especially constitutional safeguards through law, not lawlessness like that championed by many of those whose political ideology supposedly won the 2020 elections.
The Ides of March this year especially seems to portend growing wickedness for the future. This means, for believers in Jesus Christ, that the blessed hope must be nearing the time of His revealing Himself to an increasingly rebellious world.
It is good at this troubled time so near the end of the Age of Grace to claim the words of the Psalmist:
O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserved the faithful, and plentifully rewarded the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. (Psalms 31:23–24)