“Those who can’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said Spanish philosopher George Santayana, and has been repeated by many great leaders.

With the failure of enough people in this country to intelligently deal with a pandemic, politicians forsaking truth and the health of a working government for the people for personal gain and party power, the restriction and one-party control of voting legislation, we may be experiencing the decline of the United States of America on parallel with the fall of Athens, the original birthplace of democracy in Western culture.

Or on the scale of the loss of the great ancient library archives of 250 B.C. Alexandria. It was accumulated and funded by enlightened scholars and leaders until an ignorant and authoritarian king began the dismantling of it, recognizing that knowledge is power, purging intellectuals and forcing them into exile. Then later, under Roman rule, Julius Caesar “accidentally” burned some of it down during a civil war. We will never know the true extent of what knowledge and records were lost, but it is thought to be vast.

At least remember this Cliffs Note version of an old lesson and know that nothing is to be taken for granted and our representative republic version of democracy cannot be endlessly abused without a price.

Remember also the words of Benjamin Franklin, “We gave you a republic, if you can keep it.”