Another point to remember is that from the beginning, the Americans saw themselves as renewing the Roman Republic, holding heroes like Cinninnatus up as their role models. The citizen who does his duty and returns to a quiet life. It is a popular illusion, that the republic was decent and imperial Rome decadent. And in some ways, it was the bureaucracy that held Rome together despite the excesses of the princeps.
But when the Secret Service starts auctioning off the office, well, then we have long passed a point of no return.
