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The power of DOGE is the important revelation that America is no longer a constitutional republic—although it still can be one.If you’d have asked a Roman citizen on New Years in the year 1 AD what kind of a nation he lived in, he’d have likely said a republic. And he would have been right.
That year, just a few years after Jesus was born, Rome was ostensibly a proud republic. While Romans had a Senate, which was an unelected aristocratic body, they also had Consuls, who consisted of a two-man quasi-executive that was elected by representatives of the people. They had Tribunes, who were elected by the people (sans the aristocrats) and who acted as a check on the Senate and Consuls. And they had Censors, whose ultimate job was to oversee public morality and manage finances.
Most of those institutions had been in place for half a millennium and the Republic had a long history of increasing power for the common citizens as a balance to the elites.
So, again, the average Roman citizen looked around and saw a republic.
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It was an illusion. In reality, the Roman Republic, for all intents and purposes, was gone. You could argue that it ended around the end of the first century BC with the reigns of Marius, then Sulla. You could make a stronger case that it ended around 60 BC with the advent of the First Triumvirate or in 48 BC when Julius Caesar defeated Pompey, eventually having himself declared dictator for life. Most historians don’t quite count the Republic as gone at this point because the Senate still had real power.
By 27 BC, four years after Caesar Augustus defeated Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium, Senate power no longer existed. At that point, the tables had shifted sufficiently that Augustus was an Emperor in everything but name. Offered the title of king, Augustus would refuse, instead preferring to be called Princeps Civitatis, or First Citizen…ostensibly a man of the people.
The reality is that the Republic was dead, and Rome was a tyranny (albeit a relatively peaceful one for the moment). The only thing that mattered was power, in the form of Legions. And Legions Augustus had, and they were loyal to him, not Rome.
But in the eyes of the common man, it looked like a republic because all the adornments of a republic were still there. What he didn’t see was the fact that Augustus pulled all of the strings behind the scenes. Because of his personal control over the critical legions and richest provinces, Augustus was the undisputed ruler of Rome and dictated who could fill critical posts (including himself as Consul and Censor), what edicts the Senate would pass, and much else of what went on across the empire. But again, his Princeps title and the governmental window dressing gave the citizens the illusion of a republic.
Once Augustus was gone, the façade disappeared and, for most of the next 400 years, it was crystal clear that power derived from control of the Legions and or the Pretorian Guard. At times they would literally choose the Emperor by auction.
If you’d have asked an American citizen the same question 2020 years later, most would have said they lived in democracy and a few, a republic. Makes sense. We had all the trappings of a democratic form of government. We had elections, a president, Congress, and a Supreme Court, one with members nominated by said president and confirmed by that Senate, and this Court stepped in whenever the other branches overstepped their constitutional powers.
But then the election happened in November 2020 and extraordinary inconsistencies made many think that the democratic form of government we thought we had wasn’t quite working. This was followed by four years of something like a Twilight Zone episode.
Then of course came the relatively inconsistency-free election in November of 2024 and the inauguration of Donald Trump in January. Finally, Americans felt as if, maybe, they were in control over their country once again…
As soon as the new administration took office and unleashed its DOGE hounds, however, it became clear that America was far less of a democratic form of government than anyone had ever imagined.
It turned out that yes, we could elect new members of Congress and even new presidents, but that control was an illusion because behind the façade of democracy is a hardcore leftist bureaucratic machine that operates the government—and affects much of the world—and that is essentially separate from but funded by the constitutional branches of government.
It turns out that our government has been spending more than $40 billion a year for decades funding leftist causes across the country and around the world. At home they’ve funded George Soros’ Tides Foundation as it sought to install leftist prosecutors and DAs across the country. Abroad, working in concert with the CIA, the USAID funded revolutions and undermined governments around the world. Not surprisingly, 95% of agency employees were leftists and 95% of the funding went to leftist causes, including media organizations. Among other efforts were DEI, trans opera in Columbia, and Sesame Street in Iraq.
Beyond USAID spending itself, the government is rife with spending that simply continues regardless of who’s in office. Senator Rand Paul in his 2024 “Festivus” showcased over $1 trillion in waste and abuse in the federal budget, funding things such as breakdancing, Girl-Centered Climate Action in Brazil and $10 billion a year to maintain virtually empty buildings. These problems are rife in all branches of the government—Defense, Interior, State, and virtually all departments and agencies—which mostly funneled their billions of dollars through NGOs, which are Non-Government Organizations. In reality, these organizations should really be called Not Government Officially because they give the CIA, State, Defense and others the ability to do things they’re either legally prohibited from doing or aren’t constitutionally empowered to do.
Indeed, the EPA recently revealed that the “Biden administration was allowing just eight entities to distribute $20 billion of taxpayer dollars ‘at their discretion.’” This included $2 billion to Stacey Abrams’ brand new green energy scam.
Leftists complain that DOGE is focusing too much attention on USAID, which is only 1% of the government budget. That’s true, but that misses the point for two reasons. First, DOGE is looking at the entire government; it’s simply that USAID abuse has been so blatant that it’s basically low hanging fruit. Second, about 75% of the federal budget is non-discretionary, essentially meaning it gets spent regardless of who’s in charge, on things such as interest, Social Security, Medicaid, etc. Of the remaining 25%, half is Defense. That means that of the 13% of the budget that’s discretionary, USAID makes up almost 10%!
In a recent Joe Rogan interview, Elon Musk perfectly articulated why leftists—both in government and out—are going crazy. Suggesting that DOGE’s revelations may be the most important revolution in American history since the original revolution, he said “Normally the bureaucracy eats revolutions for breakfast. This is the first time they’re not, that the revolution might actually succeed.”
DOGE may still find itself eaten by the bureaucracy it’s targeted, but at least for the first time in decades Americans have an idea what’s being done behind their backs, and there’s someone in office who seeks to do something about it. When the façade of the Roman Republic fell, it exposed a tyranny that would last four centuries. We can only hope that exposing the cancer behind the American façade results in a stronger Republic that can last half as long.
Follow Vince on X at ImperfectUSA
