7. But the very language of Caesarism used by @DouthatNYT has roots in American history and far right which are worth pondering.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
8. As Bernard Bailyn and other historians have taught us, language of civic Republicans, Whig-inflected, formative during USA Revolution.
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9. During 19th century, republican language deployed by wide variety of groups including emerging labor (see Sean Wilentz, etc).
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10. But the component of Republicanism that feared Caesarist president who would overturn social order found special salience in South.
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11. Even before Civil War, leading Southern thinkers worried about Presidency becoming home for egalitarian & imperialist policies.
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12. It's not an accident that John Wilkes Booth shouted "sic semper tyrannis" after shooting Lincoln. Booth saw himself as Brutus reborn
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13. In the context of modern right, language of Caesarism-as-menace revived by James Burnham & Willmoore Kendall in 1950s.
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14. Although there were aspects of this language already in 1930s in opposition to FDR (and Huey Long).
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15. A key text here is James Burnham's "Congress and the American Tradition" (1959).
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16. In reading Burnham's warnings of Caesarism, important to realize he was no believer in democracy. Supported many right-wing dictators.
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17. In earlier works, Burnham made case democracy is impossible, best we can hope for is responsible elite (open to new members).
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Replying to @HeerJeet
18. For Burnham, danger of Caesarism is that of a popular president who gives people what they want: pre-eminently FDR.
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20. Burnham's anti-Caesarism also grew out of struggles between Truman/Eisenhower with McCarthy.
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