Rome likes to call itself the "eternal city." Not because it takes forever to do something as simple as post a letter here -- though it does -- but because the city's ancient monuments testify eloquently to the transience of all human things in the face of eternity.

The perfectly domed Pantheon still stands, of course, as does much of the vast Colosseum; pieces of other monuments and buildings survive, and the oldest Latin inscription records the words of men who spoke them more than two and a half millennia ago. But these are only remnants of the ancient city that was once here, and they, too, will eventually pass away in time.

All of which puts next week's election into a different perspective.

I'm sure if I were home now, watching the endless stream of political ads and being subjected to the constant barrage of robo-calls (we get them from both Democrats and Republicans in our mixed household), if I were watching hours of cable-news commentary and reading the usual political blogs, I might even believe the chorus of pundits who have proclaimed the election of 2008 to be the most important presidential election in a generation, or our lifetimes, or even in the whole history of the republic.

It isn't. Really.

Of course, every election is important. Good leadership makes a difference. It matters whether we entrust the fate of our country to seasoned veterans with long records of public service or to inexperienced, ambitious politicians whose greatest achievements lie in the field of electoral competition itself.

But only so much. The republic will still continue whether it is John McCain or Barack Obama who takes the oath of office as the next president of the United States.

The reason is that the basic institutions of our republican government are still fundamentally healthy. In a healthy republican political system, political power is widely dispersed and shared among a number of different institutions, so that no individual person can put his will above the law.

The Roman republic, which lasted almost 500 years and inspired our founding fathers, came to an end when its most successful generals began to use the unimaginable wealth their conquests brought to subvert the electoral process and used their troops, who were more loyal to their favorite generals than to the rule of law, to cow the populace into submission.

Republics decay and die when power becomes concentrated into ever fewer hands -- when, as Shakespeare's Cassius said of Caesar, one man "doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus" while all the rest "walk under his huge legs and peep about to find themselves dishonorable graves."

When the people feel themselves too small to affect the course of events and unable to dispense with the services of their own unique hero -- as the Russians seem to feel about Vladimir Putin -- then free institutions are in danger.

The current election, however, is notable for the extent to which it is bringing new people and new ideas into the political arena.

It is the first election in more than half a century in which neither an incumbent president or sitting vice president is standing for election. Nor is either candidate the child or spouse of any former president.

In this election, we see the first major party candidate of African-American descent and only the second female major party candidate for vice president.

Apart from the changes represented by the candidates, the two major parties are, on the whole, working to promote the health of our political system. They are both avidly courting the votes of Hispanics and women toward their candidate, and both parties (though particularly the Democrats, who have far more money) are working to enroll new voters, seeking to bring previously passive and disaffected persons into full, active citizenship.

Our system is not perfect, of course. Divided power can lead to stalemate, as each side seeks to blame the other for its failures (as President Bush and the Democratic Congress are now doing).

Worse, still, many candidates for state and local office run unopposed, and even many members of the House of Representatives face only nominal challenges, which may limit the responsiveness of our government to changes in the people's judgment.

On the whole, however, the system is in pretty good shape.

Whether Obama or McCain wins next week, there's no reason to think that our Capitol will look like the ruins on Rome's Capitoline Hill anytime soon.

Joseph R. Reisert is associate professor of American Constitutional Law and chairman of the Department of Government at Colby College in Waterville.