A poem by Paul Wilke

The Republic was dead long before Augustus rose to power. This essay pushes back against modern comparisons, showing how Augustus buried a broken system and built something that endured for centuries.

The beginning of the end of the Roman Republic started with the best of intentions. A fiery young aristocrat named Tiberius Gracchus set out to reform a corrupt system dominated by the wealthy. During one turbulent year as tribune, he challenged the Senate’s authority, bent the rules, and paid with his life. What followed was nearly a century of escalating violence that tore the Republic apart.

Huxley’s Brave New World warned of a dystopia where comfort and distraction erase depth, struggle, and meaning, echoing our world today.

A collection of sayings and half-baked thoughts not worthy of a full essay, but still interesting and thought-provoking. Or not.

D.H. Lawrence's thoughts (and mine) on Revelation and the Apocalyptic mindset and how those remain with us today.

A personal update on the blog

A poem by Paul Wilke

A poem by Paul D. Wilke

For Mencken, the common man was more Homer Simpson or Peter Griffith than anything resembling the idea of a thoughtful and engaged citizen.