This isn’t just any old dead white guy who is bleeding out at the center of this piece, however. This is Cato the Younger or, as his contemporaries knew him, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, a Stoic, scion of the late Roman Republic, a famously incorruptible statesman, and an advocate for liberty (or at least what passed for it in those days.) He set a standard for statesmanship that is no longer seen; I can think of no one practicing politics today who is fit to stand in Cato’s shadow. //

houdini1984
7 hours ago
We need a Cato. We need a Cicero as well, an orator and philosopher who can lend eloquent words to the cause of saving our republic, but Cicero’s is a story for another day. From where will come our incorruptible Stoic? From where will come the statesman who will confront those who will drag our republic to ruin and tell them, “No, no further; this ends now”?

I’m concerned by the apparent fact that men like him no longer exist.

Sigh. No one is coming to save you. Hell, Cato couldn't even save Rome. By the time he was at his peak, the rot had already grown too deep and the people had largely given up on the idea of liberty. Eventually, that happens to all "free" societies. And why? Well, part of it has to do with the very idea that we need a Cato to save us.

That's one of the main weaknesses of the American experiment in self-rule. Too many people are looking for a superman to save them, rather than rallying behind the mortal men who are already in the field. DeSantis is a great advocate for liberty and sound government. So is Rand Paul. Ted Cruz. My own governor here in Iowa, whose response to Covid involved little more than confirming that she trusted us to make the best decisions about our health.

Unfortunately, that superman myth has overtaken our national psyche -- at least on the Republican side of the political aisle. That's the whole appeal of Trump. It's not that anyone believes that he understands the constitution, the idea of God-given rights, or the true burden that government places on liberty and individualism. Instead, it's that he's made himself larger than life, through decades of forcing himself into the spotlight and building a reputation as a winner. It's myth, but myth is an easy sell to the average person.

Forget Cato. We need tens of millions of normal Americans to commit to saying no to the ongoing Marxist revolution. We need a counter-revolution that restores our national identity. We need to get aggressive in our opposition to the would-be authoritarians and their statist agenda. Because that is the only thing that can possibly reverse our slide toward tyranny.