Is Caesarism the Conspiracy? An enormously popular conspiracy theory (that was perhaps best presented in Taylor Caldwell's novel, A Pillar of Iron [Life of Cicero]) holds that the ultimate goal of the ruling class/conspiracy for America consists in moving from the virtues of "Republic" with its rigorous limits on government power, rule of law, and checks and balances to the degradation of unlimited rule or "Caesarism" of one man. This theory implies, but does not often explicitly state, that America as a social organism is in morphic resonance a la Sheldrake's Presence of the Past with Rome, perhaps through the intentional seeding of America by the Founders Fathers with Roman forms and archetypes: bicameral legislature, Senate, architecture, etc, etc. Those unfamiliar with the remarkable parallels between the America's system and history and that of Rome need to read Amaury de Riencourt's The Coming Caesars and American Empire and Haskell' New Deal In Old Rome. While Haskell deals with the parallel resort to collectivist economic measures under the impoverishing strain and drain of Imperial adventure, more fundamentally, de Riencourt demonstrates the similarity of America's and Rome's geopolitical positions, namely that of representing a more powerful new Imperial embodiment of an old culture--America of England/Europe and Rome of Greece. Rome was responsible for defending Greece from the alien Parthian empire to the East as America has been responsible for defending Europe from the hostile Soviet Union to the East. De Riencourt examines in detail how under the stress of world empire and domestic economic pressures the tendency toward mass democracy culminating in Caesarism is inevitable in the Republican system shared by America and Rome. Though America has so far avoided the fall into true Caesarism or "Presidents for Life", Franklin Roosevelt can only be viewed as a very close call, a close call indeed, and other presidents such as Jackson, Wilson, and Lincoln have risen to near Caesar status. Apparently, the American system, in contrast to that of Rome, can provide an "Imperial Presidency" for the duration of a crisis (Military or Economic), but return rather smoothly to Congressional Bickering after the crisis has passed. Perhaps this helps provide a key to where the Taylor Caldwell theory that "the conspiracy equals Caesarism" misses the mark. It is not "Caesarism" that the ruling class/conspiracy wants (Caesar can be as difficult to control as Congress). It is successful World Imperialism best typified by Rome. Rome's Empire was not a product primarily of the Emperors, but of the Republic! The Masonic conspiracy modeled America's political forms on Rome's because they were forms known to be compatible with the future World Imperial role they sought for America (Novus Ordo Seclorum--New Order of the Ages). The Masonic conspiracy fashioned a Presidency that would be "Imperial" as required, but could always be checked by the "Money Power" through Congress and the Supreme Court, the States, or the people to avoid the notorious excesses and "flakiness" of all powerful Emperors that did much to undermine the Roman Empire. So far, the question in America remains: whose Congress? whose President? whose Supreme Court? whose Governor? whose People? The Vatican's or Queen's? Maybe eventually, if the growing "multi-cultural" ethnic tribalism and "Balkanization" makes America ungovernable democratically, Whose Caesar!