A Lesson from Cincinnati

In 2012, I attended a quarterly Inc. CEO project meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was my first time to this historic city on the Ohio River. On my first night there, I was eating dinner and decided to Google Cincinnati. Of course several thousand pages were available with great information, but I remember discovering the reason for the name of the city. 

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus or simply “Cincinnatus” was a hero and a simple man.  For a visual of Cincinnatus, think of Maximus in the movie Gladiator.  Maximus played by Russell Crowe was partially based on Cincinnatus and his life. Cincinnatus was a hero of early Rome and throughout his life had many hard times. His son was convicted and sentenced to death and as a result he was forced to work and live on a small farm across the Tiber River from Rome. When Rome was under attack by several invading tribes he was called to be the Dictator of Rome in 458BC by the senate. He accepted and led his troops into battle and defeated the invading tribes. After 15 short days, he resigned and went back to work his small farm. He was the most powerful man in the world and had unlimited power yet, he gave it all up to go back to the life of a simply farmer. He had no agenda other than to serve the people and protect the Republic. He was not in it for personal gain or fulfilling any insecurity in his personal life. He did the job and once completed went back to doing what he loved.

The story of Cincinnatus is really relevant to today’s political mess/agenda in America. I am worried about the future of our Great Republic and the lack of virtue and simplicity that our career politicians exhibit. I support term limits and believe that politicians work for us and not the way it is perceived: that we work for them. They have to have the same laws and benefits that we have as citizens. They can’t be allowed to make laws for us and then have immunity or have personal gains from those laws. George Washington is compared to Cincinnatus based on only having two terms as President and not becoming the first King of America or taking a third term. These men (Washington and Cincinnatus) knew that they had a job to do and they did it with virtue.  These are the kind of men we need serving our country today.