While it could be argued that Cato's concern is misplaced in a pre-suffrage era, he accurately warns that parasitic politicians will load up the people’s labors and assets with ruinous levies and tributes. Cato asserts that elites will employ every effort to transfer burdens to the people.
He avers that the new government will have no real checks and balances under the proposed Constitution.
Cato is concerned that the new government will be a costly affair, will use its new-found wealth to leverage its will, and construct a hierarchy of privilege among the political class.
With great prescience, Cato further cautions about taxes, overseas conscriptions to satisfy the power-hungry, and the Senate’s unaccountable oversight of treaties.
Please pardon some interspersed background baseboard noise during the recording. Read by Eric the Blacksmith.
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