Page 27 - Lunacy and the Age of Deception

On either side of the Speaker’s rostrum in the U.S. House of Representatives, there is an image of
a Fascis hanging on the wall.

Fasces in the House of Representatives

America’s founding fathers adopted the fascis as a symbol of the government they had created. They
were hearkening back to the Roman ideal from which it originated. The fascis is also a prominent
feature of the Lincoln Memorial. Lincoln’s hands rest over the tops of two fasces.

The National Park Service has a page devoted to the Lincoln Memorial on which it describes the
meaning of the fasces.

In ancient times, fasces were a Roman symbol of power and authority, a bundle of wooden rods and
an axe bound together by leather thongs. Fasces represented that a man held imperium, or executive
authority. Exercising imperium, a Roman leader could expect his orders to be obeyed, could dole
out punishment, and could even execute those who disobeyed. The fasces he carried symbolized this
power in two ways: the rods suggest punishment by beating, the axe suggests beheading. On its
surface, the fasces imply power, strength, authority, and justice. Depicted throughout the Lincoln
Memorial, the fasces mean all this and more.

As one approaches the Lincoln Memorial from the plaza below, he or she passes by the first of these
fasces at the base of the main stairs. The carving is easily missed even though it is more than ten feet
tall, but to miss it is to miss the introduction to the theme of the memorial. There on the end of the
wall is a carving of rods with an axe bound by a leather thong, the classic Roman fasces. The fasces
indicate the power and authority of the state over the citizens, commanding respect. But there is