March 11, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Senatus Populusque Americana: I Do Not Think So
 
By Cicero
Special to Huntington News Network
 
SPQR, or Senatus Populusque Romanus, meaning “the Senate and the Roman People,” is a term the Romans used to highlight the difference in class between the Senate and common people – or all citizens who were not members of the Senate. The Roman armies would carry proudly into battle the standards bearing the letters SPQR.
 
The word Senate is derived from the Latin word Senex, meaning “elder” or “council of elders” and referring to a deliberative governing body. Currently, the U.S. Senate is indeed a “senex” body consisting mainly of a number of elderly individuals, many of whom have been in their positions for decades and in some instances just been there filling a position with the real power resting in the hands of their staffs.
 
While age should not be a deterrent to many of us who still are active into our later years, which alone is obviously no justification for providing a lifelong employment to our legislators. Instead, they should only be allowed to represent us for a limited term during which they must deliver something instead of just sitting around and waiting to be saluted. In ancient Rome, the Senate as the highest law-making body was predominated by rich landowners and aristocracy. And just like the U.S. Senate today, membership in this decision-making body was very much based on inherited privilege and wealth. The Roman Senators received no payment, which means only a small percentage of the population could afford to become deeply involved in politics and as a result, the wealthy was always in control.
 
Today, while in comparison to the average American’s salary, U.S. Senators are fairly well paid, the astronomical cost of elections coupled with other operational costs are putting our Senators under the influence of a handful of wealthy individuals, large companies and powerful groups. Many a time, such influence is allowed to outweigh the need of the entire nation, which is unforgivable but nonetheless understandable if you think about the “food chain” in the system.
 
This situation can only be reversed by funding elections through the Treasury, and by limiting the terms of Senators to, say, only two terms of six years, which sounds already long enough to me. How many of us have ever had a job guarantee of twelve years!
 
If we take a look back at the historic root of the system, the idea of the U.S. Senate originally came from Benjamin Franklin, whose intention was to have a compromise and balance for smaller colonies against the larger ones that would dominate the House of Representatives. Brilliant idea, but does the Senate have to be a lifetime tenure?
 
Often, we hear some Senators bragging about their long tenures, and so do many members of the House of Representatives. I presume they are showing us how smart they are to take everyone as a fool and how gullible we are to keep on re-electing them. According to the Senators they stay in office to better serve their constituents since tenure brings powerful committee positions, but it also brings large donations for re-election campaigns and other perks from those lobbyists and powerful groups wishing to influence the decisions they make.
 
Many of these groups who supply the re-election funds do not share the interests or values of the public which the Senators represent. We find that Senators from both parties are trying to reduce the potential impact of legislation to reduce the influence of lobbyists. Shame on them and shame on us if we re-elect them while continuing to see that time and time again they are introducing policies that appear to benefit all only to later have them modified to benefit a few of their powerful and wealthy donors.
 
The Roman Senate was theoretically balanced by the Tribunes, who were elected by the Assembly of the people to represent the majority interests. During their tenure, the Tribunes could veto anything the Senate voted for that affected the people, which often ended up being pretty much everything the Senate voted on. Who are our Tribunes today: the President, the House of Representatives? No, the people are hardly represented since all of those are susceptible to just the same forces as are influencing the Senators – money and power.
 
On September 2nd, 44 B.C., Marcus Tullius Cicero said to the aristocrats of the Roman Senate, who decided to bend to the autocrat Mark Anthony after the death of Caesar:
 
"Were we supposed to enjoy the highest position that the state is able to confer, and yet remain entirely oblivious of the national interests?... Curse it, do you have to be voluntary slaves?"
 
These words still hold true today!
 
Editor’s Note: In the 1952 movie “Five Fingers,” James Mason played the valet of the British ambassador to neutral Turkey during World War II. He was a German spy who went by the code name “Cicero.” His intelligence information – including the date of D-Day – was excellent, but fortunately for the Allies, the Germans didn’t believe him, thinking him a double agent.
 
The film was based on real events. The alternate title of the movie is “Operation Cicero.” The Roman political figure, orator and philosopher Cicero was a champion of the traditional institutions of the Roman Republic and the enemy of autocracy, including the politics of Julius Caesar and Pompey.