Well I don't care, but I believe the Roman Republic was indeed a great country, up until Julius Caesar destroyed it and turned it into a militaristic empire.
Before that it was the most civilized and most prosperous place. Taxes were practically nonexistent. You had trial by jury. There was no police, except town watchmen, that were only occupied in keeping the towns safe, and not harrassing innocents. And you could trade freely without any regulations.
It was really the most libertarian country of them all. The US in 1776 was a joke compared to it.
I mean literally taxes in Rome were about 2-3% of your estate. No income tax, no sales tax, no nothing.
Even the slaves had better life conditions that some of the sweatshop workers of today, basically all masters took care of their slaves and bought healthcare for them, which can't be said about current corporations. And certainly it was a less brutal slavery than egyptian slavery, or even american slavery.
I have to be honest and say that I don't know enough about Roman or Egyptian history so can't comment on that but if what you are saying is true about the Roman Empire pre Julius Caesar, then it sounds like a decent place.
I like your sentiments regarding freedom as well. If you get time please check out my post 'So we want to be free?...Really?' and let me know what you think.
Cheers
The Roman Republic, not the Empire, that is the main difference.
Ancient Egypt was a shitty place, a total theocracy combined with an absolute monarchy and brutal slavery. There wasn't anything good there that I can point too.
But Rome was indeed a great place pre Caesar, I mean you literally had politicians say these things:
When was the last time you heard a senator say things like this? It was so long ago.
Sorry. My mistake. :(
love that quote! Think I'll put it ion a tee shirt. :)
Cheers buddy. Much appreciated. I'll look into the Roman Republic.
Cool. I just looked it up, it was a 3% tax according to a source, that was levied on property, and some flat license fees that were really tiny if you engaged in trading. Like if you bought yourself a place to trade in a market you rented out that place for a flat fee.
But other than that, absolutely no other taxes: no income tax, no sales tax, nothing else.
And there weren't even that many slaves in the beginning. And most slaves were housemaids, or people who worked in the garden.
Most farming jobs were done by the peasants, so slaves in some cases had better quality life than the farmers.
It was more like servants than slaves. They had full rights to move in the city, to marry, or even to buy property.
So it wasn't that harsh slavery as the other forms of that time.