With Trump's inauguration almost upon us, I thought I'd write up a post on how the Romans were able to avoid situations like this.
Latin for ”course of honors", the cursus honorum of the Roman Republic was the mandatory political ladder for all men aspiring to power and political life.
An aspiring Roman would first start by serving in the military, getting experience in an area that was vital to Rome's success. Next, they would run for the office of quaestor, where they would get experience with money and finances. They could then run for the office of aedile, a position which was responible for public events (although this office was optional). After that, the man would run for the office of praetor, whose main duty was to preside over law courts. Lastly, the man would be able to run for Rome's most important office, known as consul (there were two of them). Only after going through the above steps could a Roman man achieve this highest office. Along the way, he received experience in numerous domains of Roman politics, which gave him the skills necessary to be an effective consul. It's worth noting that the term for each office was only one year (and there were age restrictions for each office as well). Of course, this doesn't mean that there weren't any incompetent consuls, or that no men were able to skip offices and generally overlook the official restrictions. But the system itself was designed to keep someone with no experience from attaining what was the most powerful office in Rome. Here's a helpful pic from wikipedia:
I'm pretty unfamiliar with politics in other countries. I assume some have to have something similar.
Latin for ”course of honors", the cursus honorum of the Roman Republic was the mandatory political ladder for all men aspiring to power and political life.
An aspiring Roman would first start by serving in the military, getting experience in an area that was vital to Rome's success. Next, they would run for the office of quaestor, where they would get experience with money and finances. They could then run for the office of aedile, a position which was responible for public events (although this office was optional). After that, the man would run for the office of praetor, whose main duty was to preside over law courts. Lastly, the man would be able to run for Rome's most important office, known as consul (there were two of them). Only after going through the above steps could a Roman man achieve this highest office. Along the way, he received experience in numerous domains of Roman politics, which gave him the skills necessary to be an effective consul. It's worth noting that the term for each office was only one year (and there were age restrictions for each office as well). Of course, this doesn't mean that there weren't any incompetent consuls, or that no men were able to skip offices and generally overlook the official restrictions. But the system itself was designed to keep someone with no experience from attaining what was the most powerful office in Rome. Here's a helpful pic from wikipedia:
I'm pretty unfamiliar with politics in other countries. I assume some have to have something similar.
