Robert writes in to ask James about the bundles of sticks behind the speaker’s chair in the US congress chamber. James responds with a history lesson about the fasces, its use throughout history, how it arrived on the shores of America, and what it really represents.
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Fasces (whale.to article)
The Fasces: A History of Ancient Rome’s Most Dangerous Political Symbol by T. Corey Brennan
A new book explores the fasces, a symbol of power — and of unity
Great info James.
With a horribly narcissistic, mis-speaking, ego driven President these days it just adds more fuel to the madness we call our Republic.
We have been engineered into a perception prison of belief and held in place by shackles of fear.
Some believe that going to the ballot box can change things 🙂
LIFE IS A GAME
https://old.bitchute.com/video/BnZE9gbMA1Vk/
That was interesting, thank you. I don’t think I’d heard of the fasces being on Gov architecture but it’s not a big suprise FDR and co leaned into the imagery.
The idea of popular will/will of the people/ect is older then fascism- the radicals in the French Revolution were as much all over that as the Bolsheviks (“dictatorship of the proles) and the fascists……I’d argue that it’s actually pretty close to, or grew out the same patch, as Classical Liberalism. Classical liberals were just into the laxer version where the “popular will” was getting rich via trade.
It is a false modern conception that the American Republic was all about individual freedom, it was just that the states were all too strong for one power to impose its own vision of life upon the others- kinda like how personal freedom is highly dependent on how hard it is to oppress you.
I don’t believe Romans thought Lictors were thugs, or at least not mere thugs. Romans had a fair respect for the law
, which held their state together dispite class hatred. Generally speaking people like to see justice enforced by the ruling class, the alternative being necklacing wrong doers with a tire and setting them alight, Africa style
That Fasces lesson was kind of fun.
Thanks Mr Corbett.
“The fascist state on the other hand, is a popular state, and in that sense, a democratic state par excellence” -Giovanni Gentile
Always fun to quote that one to statists who proclaim that as a democrat (in the larger, non US sense) you have to be antifascist
Of the two systems, I would prefer to live under a fascist regime rather than a communist one although both are really just two sides of a coin.
The U.S.’s marriage between state and corporation is how it is today with the added technocracy so you could say the country is technofascist whereas the governments of Europe and the UK, not the people, are moving towards communist/communitarian/tyrannical ideals.
F. Tupper Saussy – Rulers of Evil:
America’s national motto “Annuit Coeptis” came from a prayer
to Jupiter. It appears in Book IX of Virgil’s epic propaganda, the
Aeneid, a poem commissioned just before the birth of Christ by
Caius Maecenas, the multi-billionaire power behind Augustus
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RULERS OF EVIL
Caesar. The poem’s objective was to fashion Rome into an imperial
monarchy for which its citizens would gladly sacrifice their lives.
Fascism may be an ugly word to many, but its stately emblem is
apparently offensive to no one. T h e emblem of fascism, a pair of
them, commands the wall above and behind the speaker’s rostrum
in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. They’re called
fasces, and I can think of no reason for them to be there other than
to declare the fascistic nature of American republican democracy.
6
A fasces is a Roman device. Actually, it originated
with the ancient Etruscans, from
whom the earliest Romans derived their
religious jurisprudence nearly three thousand
years ago. It’s an axe-head whose handle is a
bundle of rods tightly strapped together by
a red sinew. It symbolizes the ordering of
priestly functions into a single infallible
sovereign, an autocrat who could require life
and limb of his subjects. If the fasces is
entwined with laurel, like the pair on the House wall, it signifies
Caesarean military power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign
Pontifex Maximus, “Supreme Bridgebuilder.” No Roman was
called Pontifex Maximus until the title was given to Julius Caesar
in 48 BC. Today’s Pontifex Maximus is Pope John Paul II.
As we shall discover in a forthcoming chapter, John Paul does
not hold that title alone. He shares it with a mysterious partner, a
military man, a man holding an office that has been known for
more than four centuries as “Papa Nero,” the Black Pope. I shall
present evidence that the House fasces represent the Black Pope,
who indeed rules the world.
America’s Great Seal, with its obsessive fidelity to Caesarean
Rome, cannot represent a nation more moral than the source of its
scripture. The icons and mysterious cabalistic language of this Seal
introduce a preposterous Babylonian gospel. Taken seriously (and
shouldn’t a government’s solemn statements be taken seriously?),
the Seal’s gospel teaches that America’s high spiritual purpose is
to assist in the resurrection of the Son of God’s mutilated parts
from the evil slime of human flesh. It tells us that already the Holy
Virgin has rescued the Son’s Sacred Heart from the slime – E
PLURIBUS UNUM, “one from many” – and has placed it high in the
vault of Heaven, as her five-pointed celestial path describes for all
to see. It calls for America to exert fervent sexual energy so that
the Son’s many parts on earth might be reunited with the UNUM
in Heaven. It promises that America will rise toward the pure light
of sinlessness and Godliness, into eternal life as part of the solar
body of the Son – the Sun – of God. It signifies that this cosmic
resurrective process is administered by a pyramidic hierarchy conceived
in ancient Babylon, exported to Asia Minor, and bequeathed
to Rome. At the top of the hierarchy sits an unseen
chieftain, an unknown superior, a G o d of the Seal who possesses
universal intelligence and authority over every soul who confederates
with, or subscribes to, the Seal.
The God of the Seal wields the fasces to sweep the earth clean
of the last traces of Original Sin. He is assisted by a new priestly
order, a “new world order” charged with destroying all individual
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RULERS OF EVIL
224
identity deemed inconsistent with the resurrection to godliness.
Uncooperative governments and dissident citizens alike are cut
down by arts of war so frugal that the liquidation increases popular
faith in the fasces. Because they function in a Golden Era of Saturn,
the chief and his hierarchy can be depended upon to mimic
Saturn’s strictness, cruelty, licentiousness, even cannabilism as the
situation requires. To the charge that such is impossible in America,
one comparison should be sufficient. No sooner was Augustus
Caesar deified than he sacrificially murdered three hundred Senators
in Perugia to atone for the assassination of his adoptive father
Julius.9 Likewise, no sooner was an American president inaugurated
than he, as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, authorized
the sacrificial murder of nearly a hundred misguided
Christians near Waco, Texas, to atone for what? A growing popular
disenchantment with federal government?
What the Seal of the United States of America represents, to
anyone who takes it seriously, is a Ministry of Sin. A speech by Jesuit
political scientist Michael Novak, published in the January 28,
1989 issue of America, the weekly magazine of American Jesuits,
sums it up eloquently enough:
The framers wanted to build a “novus ordo” that would
secure “liberty and justice for all”…. The underlying principle of
this new order is the fact of human sin. To build a republic
designed for sinners, then, is the indispensable task…. There is
no use building a social system for saints. There are too few of
them. And those there are are impossible to live with!… Any
effective social system must therefore be designed for the only
moral majority there is: sinners.
The thing about isms – e.g. individualism/collectivism – none of them work well for us individually or collectively if we don’t do our due diligence individually and collectively. It seems to me that my generation has failed miserably in that respect.
It seems the US are not the only “fascist” state around. France uses the lictor’s fasces as a symbol of union and strength (sic) : https://www.elysee.fr/en/french-presidency/the-lictor-s-fasces
James,
Your analysis of the fasces revealed how a simple bundle of rods and an axe embodies the logic of centralized authority, unity enforced through the right to punish. But it raises a deeper question: if the fasces represents the power to enforce, what symbolizes the power to sanctify that enforcement? What staff, often unseen yet enduring, gives moral permission to the axe?
Across civilizations, a second emblem has always accompanied the weapon of state: the heqa crook of the Egyptian pharaohs, the rod and ring bestowed by the Mesopotamian gods, the scepters blessed by the medieval Church. Each carried the same message, that power was not merely political but divinely authorized. Could it be that this principle never vanished, but merely changed its language?
A striking echo of that lineage appeared on June 22, 2017 The Dutch Royal House officially recorded that King Willem-Alexander received in the Biblioteca Apostolica a commander’s staff attributed to William of Orange. (Official source: koninklijkhuis.nl, State Visit to Vatican City, June 22, 2017)
What might this gesture signify, a staff preserved by Jesuits for centuries, symbolically returned to a modern monarch inside the Vatican’s library? Could it still echo the old ritual through which spiritual and temporal authority silently reaffirm one another?
About the Netherlands constitutional structure: Article 120 of the Constitution states that the courts shall not rule on the constitutionality of Acts of Parliament or of treaties. And every judge(for life), politician, soldier, and public servant swears an oath of allegiance to the King, who, together with his ministers, constitutes the government itself. As head of state and formal chair of the government, the King’s signature is required for all laws and royal decrees, symbolically binding the entire legal order to the Crown.
And then there is Mark Rutte, who, after more than a decade as Dutch Prime Minister governing alongside King Willem-Alexander, became Secretary-General of NATO in 2024. The same hand that once co-signed royal decrees now guides a military alliance that speaks in the rhetoric of peace, unity, and collective defense, yet increasingly promotes and sustains war across Europe under the banner of security.
Does this mark the moment when the divine staff of religion and the fasces of the state finally converge, one moral, one militarized, within a single supranational framework?
If so, what we face today may no longer be separate empires of faith, law, or arms, but a single continuum of sanctified authority, one that justifies itself through necessity rather than accountability.
A question that lingers, perhaps older than any empire, is this: When power is at once spiritual, constitutional, and geopolitical, sanctified, legal, and armed, who then stands above the structure that claims to protect us all?
Who holds the unseen authority under which even the President of the United States ultimately stands?
For the next question that can damage your brains:
Is Antifa fascism? – YES!
For the question that can make you kill yourself:
Is CIA a criminal organization? -YES
I really love this topic, James. There are so many symbols embedded in our government institutions and entertainment that most people don’t even notice. The more I experience life, the more I feel like we’re living in an ancient spiritual battle that is still unfolding around us. It’s like everything that came before is still here. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun…
Yes, yes ..Ol’ Trinity is coming through. James is a workhorse of literary news. History is important , always.
The Bacon English comes in sometime before the True Trinity adherents. Like everything in history , the state of reality is dependent on editors. I’m proposing like the King, Emperor or ruling majority it has all came down to a spelling error. As most of the ruled know, there should be an [ E ] where that [ A ] is to better describe the governance affecting the masses. Not a big pile of faces but a big pile of feces, for the spelling deficient masses… The schstick or the schite for the masses. Well, let em eat centralized cake, I’ll have decentralized dogfood.
https://share.google/JYzbZ8mltmHxfbEQa
This article is good for the normies who are statists, both left and right, but somehow retain curious, open, and logical minds. But I fear that category is all too rare. For Truthers, this is largely semantic trivia. We know the basics. It is a word game. I think referring to the common current perception of the term ‘fascism’ is most relevant. After all, the current understanding of a word is paramount. Etymology and history is an academic pursuit. For instance, it usually matters, not at all, how people perceived and used the word ‘gay’ 150 yrs ago.
My perception is that ‘fascist’ is used to describe anyone condoning force to coerce people into shutting up and accepting unfair domination. The image that first pops up, in my head, is of Nazi Brown Shirts beating people in the streets in the 30’s, leading up to WW11. The second thing that pops up is Antifa goons terrorizing our streets.
Abstractly, on a governmental level, the term would apply to all Democrats and Republicans alike. So, just as a term that means everything, really means nothing, this is reserved for extreme authoritarians, left or right.
Words that are synonymous with the modern usage of fascist are totalitarian, terrorist, and extreme ideologue. Ironically, as the old time religions have lost their grip, we now have modern ‘humanists’ with fascistic tendencies and agendas.
What I see everywhere, even in my own neighborhood, is not blatant fascists, but real fatshits. They have increased their power in society and government, at all levels.
https://www.tiktok.com/@akosmarco/video/7497625733657906454
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie
https://www.tiktok.com/@juice_smooyay/video/7288481094943608110?lang=en
Fear fatshits!
Hanky.
That is some funny take on Bacon English. You have a bent ear. Feces filled fatshits, oh the humanities…
Here’s a very good explanation of the type of people, and the mentality, the police attracts.
Cop Arrests For Telling Him To “Shut Up” – A S*** Storm Ensues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeHkDKt1LHo
Mkey
Not that I love cops or anything but the two things to remember about them is
A)they mostly see people acting like a holes and doing scummy things. That’s why cops have that attitude.
B)Their trained to be scared and try to keep control of the situation- they get quite scared by unexpected things and surprises. You need to treat them like Autists or strange dogs
The last cop I interacted with in the wild was kinda a dick, but the majority of their behavior is fake, an act to try to control all aspects of their environment. If a cop does that bellow thing it’s psyc war, not real emotion. If they act nice it’s also psy war.
Honestly the guy filming the traffic stop was also being kinda a dick. I know he is trying to make a point for his film, but he’s basically poking the grumpy old dog to see if it bites. Until we go back to living in small communities where we lynch people cops are an unfortunate necessity
You Don’t Understand How Bad It Is – Lotus Eaters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGpXloq12nM
The state is taking 50%
Tim Pool just released a video on this topic:
Antifa Cooked, Trump sends IRS after far left terror funding – Timcast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_i_d2CbJY
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/arc-de-trump-trump-touts-a-new-real-estate-project-no-not-the-ballroom/ar-AA1Oyucr?ocid=nl_article_link
Not too original, but maybe classic is good… The left and right wings of the bird of prey are apt. The inspiring female Goddess hood ornament, bearing a torch, is a bit stale. Might I suggest fatshits bearing fasci sticks instead, as a more compelling architectural flourish.
I wonder if the rods in the bundle obey the rule of thumb?
Rule of dumb?
A man “may beat his wife with a rod thinner then his thumb” under English Law, according to a much believed story…..I have no idea if it’s true but think it’s probably a later invention.
Naomi Wolf wrote “Fascism In 10 Easy Steps” in 2008, and since then all of them have been completed. The Twitter Files Hearings exposed that Step 10, the Rule Of Law has been usurped by The State when they nullified the 1st Amendment.
Once the First Amendment was nullified, the whole Constitution was compromised, so things have gone from bad to worse, regardless of Party.
Did she define fascism?
Anyway, I agree that we are proceeding with the left-right march into tyranny.
H
Free speech was never unrestricted in the US, it was never intended to be so either.
The “rule of law” was subverted a long time ago and replaced by the rule of the managers who run the administration systems for those laws. Stupidly complex laws mean that everyone is a law breaker and can be messed with when the admin people want to
There is no rule of law when admin people control the complex systems and interpret those laws, and true rule of law can only exist when the general population cars about those laws. People in parts of the US care about their right to own guns and the law reflects the fact that they make a fuss about that, virtually no one in the US cares about “total” or unrestricted free speech because it’s been so horribly abused to allow obviously bad stuff, an example being porn that the founders were totally not OK with. At best people care about SOME kinds of speech, mainly their own.
Yes, we can follow that rule, but remember they will have very fat thumbs.
On another note, anything to do with Fascia? The “layer of connective tissue (sic) below the skin, that covers and surrounds all of the cells, nerves, joints, tendons, ligaments, organs, muscles and bones, in the body.”
I rose
https://www.etymonline.com/word/fascia
“……1560s, from Latin fascia “a band, bandage, swathe, ribbon,” derivative of fascis “bundle” (see fasces). In English, originally in architecture; anatomical use is from 1788. Also used in botany, music, astronomy. Related: Fascial; fasciation. In Latin a fascia could mean a bandage for the body, foot-wraps to keep boots from rubbing, and a breast supporter for women.….”
Haha, Bra’s are fascist…. 🙂