Bread and Circuses

During the height of the Roman Empire, after they had moved away from the foundational principles that made the Roman Republic so successful, Rome was slowly heading towards collapse from within. The citizens had become somewhat spoiled from the success and prosperity of the Roman Republic and they began neglecting their duties as citizens. 2nd century Roman poet, Juvenal, observed this change in the Roman citizenry when he wrote, “Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” Juvenal was referring to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to its citizens as well as costly circuses, games and other forms of entertainment as a means of distracting and pacifying the people to prevent them from engaging in their civic duties.

As I look out over the United States of America, I see that we have arrived at the same place Rome was in during the 2nd century. We, the American citizens, just want to be fed and entertained. Right now, our country is obsessed with college football, professional football, fantasy football. We are fixated on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. We are addicted to social media, video games and mind-altering drugs. These are the circuses that distract us from actually seeing what is going on in our country and what our politicians are doing to us. And the American citizens are only concerned about what the politicians will do for them. Long gone are the days of asking “not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” We just want free stuff.

In present day America, the bread and circuses have bled into the political arena. Politics itself has become the distraction from politics. Politics has become the circus, the entertainment, the game. That is what Presidential debates have become – a game. Does anyone believe that the current political debates that we have witnessed over the last few election cycles have been serious intellectual exercises? Were they intended to educate the electorate about the candidates so they can cast an informed vote. Of course not. They are for entertainment. They are the distraction. They are the circus.

Leading up to last night’s debate, the questions were, ‘who is going to win? What strategy are they going to use?’  After the debate, the media used phrases like, “on the defense” or “on the attack” or “scored points”. It doesn’t make sense. This is not a football game. There is no winner and there is no loser. The debate should be about each candidate standing in front of the American people and detailing out their vision for America, what policies are they going to enact, which direction are they going to steer the country. The voters should hear the competing visions for America, and then decide which vision that they like better. This is not a contest of “scoring points” to determine who wins and who loses. It should be an educational exercise for the voters so they know who each candidate is and what they represent, so they can vote for the person whose vision they agree with the most. That’s it.

If one candidate has a really distorted vision for the country and their policies are going to destroy our way of life, but he or she was able to deliver a handful of really clever zingers during the debate, are we going to conclude that that candidate “won” the debate and should be elected? Does that make any sense? Is that the criteria that we are using to determine who’s going to be our leader? ‘Your policies are going to lead America into poverty, but you did have a couple clever lines in the debate, so I’m going to vote for you.’ It’s ridiculous. I don’t care who won the debate last night, and I don’t care who lost the debate. I know who I’m voting for, because I’ve taken the time to investigate each candidate and learn about their political ideologies and their visions for America. And nothing either one of them said or didn’t say on a debate stage last night would have changed my opinion.

The bread and circuses are the reasons why we have $35 trillion of debt and no way of paying it back. They are the reasons why we have so many solvable problems that go unsolved. The vast majority of the American people do not want what needs to be done in order to make America strong and prosperous and great again. We just want to be fed and entertained. We want low taxes and high government benefits. The math doesn’t add up. The math equals $35 trillion in debt. We do not need the government’s bread and circuses. We can get along really well without them. We must reject the bread and circuses because they are what led to the eventual fall of Rome and will eventually lead to the demise of the United States.

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Mr. Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University, and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website Real Clear Politics. He has recently published his first novel, No Wind.