3 Sept 13
Analyses of current politics, from a friend in the System:
âSo went Rome, so we follow.
The central problem with a democracy or a democratic republic is that âleadersâ do not have to be the best and the brightest, nor do they even have to be decent nor honest. They merely have to be elected, via making all kinds of false promises and proffering false hope.
In the interim, âbread and circuses.â Handouts to sweaty masses, and the brutality of popular entertainment, coupled with an unfunded military, stretched too thin, brought Rome to its knees.
And, for every Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, and Hadrian, there was a Nero and Caligula, et al.
Today, unending hand-outs to the illegal immigrants, continual generations of permanently unproductive welfare-recipients whose votes are purchased, coupled with entertainment like âmixed martial arts,â where there is much brutality and scant skill, the âbread and circusesâ continue, and our unfunded military is also stretched way too thin.
Finding an honest politician is impossible, because elected officials who don’t become part of the Beltway âsystemâ don’t last long. Parties choose candidates, not the people, and there is little discernable difference between parties.
Democracies and Republics are inherently unstable. When they fall, dictators arise. Dictators fall, and chaos reigns. The cycle is not exactly new!
I long ago gave up the illusion that we were doing what we did because we were noble. Economics rule, but our current generation of political ignoramuses don’t even understand economics!
You and I are contemporaries. We stepped forward, wore our Countryâs uniform, and went forward to kill our Countryâs enemies, which we did with great skill and daring. The same generation produced âhippies.â Drugs, orgies, and anti-establishment gospel, considered by so many to be harmless, became quite harmful when hippies, ever-shunning honest work, bathed, cut their hair and beards, stepped into suits and got themselves elected to political office.
Now former, and oh-so-pious and self-righteous âwar-hatersâ have morphed into war-mongers, hoping weâve all forgotten their past rhetoric. Their hypocritical âjustificationsâ are simultaneously comical and pathetic.
In 500BC, Sun Tzu clearly told us that long, drawn-out wars are good for nothing. Weâre all supposed to forget that too!â
Comment:
âUn train peut en cacher un autreâ Loosely translated from French: âOne train may be hiding anotherâ
Inscription found on warning signs at French railroad crossings
Please tell me weâre âdoing it for the children!â
Hang on to your hat!
/John