There are a lot of civilizations that looked to the behaviors of their ancestors -- behaviors that had lapsed in the present day -- and discerned some that, if properly adapted (not just copied, but adapted) to current problems could yield effective results.
While it was politically radical because it displaced the historical and legal authority of the Roman Senate and replaced it with that of a single despot, the Augustan Reforms were in other ways socially and culturally conservative. They ended centuries of military and economic turmoil and ushered an age of peace and prosperity and growth that persisted so long, that, rather than only being recognized in retrospect, it acquired a name in its own time: Pax Romana (Roman Peace). Even generations of bad emperors and mis-administration could not deliver the death blow to this period of history, characterized by robust middle classes, public safety, population growth, technological advancement (it is conceivable that Romans might have landed on the moon a thousand years ago had their empire remained stable) and all the hallmarks of a successful society.
Those choices were appropriate at that time, but they were authored and overseen by a genius who (1) already had absolute power and (2) needed nothing other than these policies to succeed to keep it that way.
For the GOP of the post 80s and the special interests that support them, the situation is entirely different. They are rather more like the Roman Senators who got replaced by Augustus, spurred on by impossible ambitions and checkmated into destructive behaviors. Like the senators, they can't go forward, backward, or sideways. They can only get hemmed in where they stand until they suffocate.
In the meanwhile, they harm everyone.
