When Like Rome, Fall like Rome

I think it's equally instructive, along these lines, to look at the fall of the Roman republic and the Romans' transition to tyranny. Charisma-worship was the order of the day when Caesar crossed the Rubicon, and the people's unstable and excessive attachment to him perverted their judgment.

Mr. Obama is not an emperor or anything absurd along those lines, but he has a train of irrational personality-cult-style-supporters.