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The Roman Empire, while whole and intact, had two branches of government, the Senate and the Emperor's court. De jure, the Emperor held ultimate power. The U.S. has 3 branches of government, the U.S. Senate being merely the upper of 2 houses within the legislative branch. The other two branches are the executive and judicial. Within the executive lies the hypothetical analogue of the Emperor, the U.S. President, who has little real power. De jure (according to the U.S. Constitution) ultimate power is distributed equally among the Supreme Court justices of the judicial branch.

De facto, in the Roman Empire, real power was held by those who held sway over the masses through military or religious mechanisms. In the U.S., de facto, real power is held by those who hold sway over the masses through control of information and media outlets (Google, Microsoft, ...) or resources and financial institutions (General Electric, ExxonMobil, Bank of America, ...).

Both gradually became more and more bureaucratic until they both ceased to properly function.

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15y ago

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