Rome Politics

As I was reading about the setup of Roman power and politics I was thinking about how much this sounded familiar. The patrician in power seemed to have a high level of power but it was such an illusion. Much like our president, the position was one of representation and symbolism but not true power. The senate was the true power behind the mask of the king. But really, where was the power in the senate? I admit being a little dizzy and confused by the long string of titles within the senate (consuls, proconsuls, quaestors, preator, etc, etc, and so on). In the end I found it to be amusing that the censors became some of the most powerful politicians. since the censors controlled taxes they were the most paid attention to, bribed, and corrupted. I guess taxes have always been a huge deal. :) Since I'm talking about taxes, I have an opinion I'd like to share: taxes are a LOT better to the alternative. The alternative being a place where you don't pay taxes. A place like South Africa where the law doesn't exist and everyone has their own ideas about how things should be run. If someone complains to me about taxes I'd like to send them off to live in a place like that for awhile. Then they'll be glad to write that check when the time rolls around. A little off topic, I know, just thought I'd share. I also had a question about Roman slaves: who were they? Were they people the Romans had conquered? Were they people of color? I find it appalling that humans feel they can judge themselves above another to the point of cruelty. It's barbaric.