In the aftermath of the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, Herodotus tells us in The Histories, that Xerxes beat a hasty retreat out of the Attican peninsula in Southern Greece. He realized that with his Navy shattered, his odds of defeating the Greeks were tilting sharply away from him. He had tasted Greek determination twice and both were costly. The first time was the legendary battle of Thermopylae where a force of 300 Spartans and several hundred Thebans and others held a narrow pass for three days against the million man army from Persia. Free men fighting to defend their freedom. Then came Salamis, where once again, a clever strategy and superior seamanship combined with the determination to defend their freedom and land allowed a Greek naval force less than a third the size of the Persian fleet to prevail. It is said that Xerxes watched the battle from a promontory and wept at the destruction of his force.So in the middle of the night, he packed up his army...feinted to the Greek scouts that he might be headed to the Peloponnese and headed north for the Hellespont, terrified that the Greek navy would get their first and destroy the bridge of boats. Herodotus, as he is want to do throughout The Histories, takes the reader off on a tangent of a tale about Xerxes, and it was this that I kept thinking of yesterday as I watched the machinations of what was our House of Representatives pushing, dragging, kicking this bloated rotting cow corpse of a bill, the "Health care reform act" across the finish line. Herodotus reported that Xerxes was in such a panic to get out of Greece that south of the Hellespont he took a boat over to the Asian side. The boat was piloted by a Phoenician, so you know he had to be a good sailor, but nevertheless at mid passage, the boat encountered a freak storm and high waves were threatening to swamp it. The captain told Xerxes that unless they lightened the load, they would not make it. Xerxes ordered his entourage to jump overboard so that he might be saved. Without question, the historian reports, the Persians leapt overboard saving their lord and master. Herodotus goes on to declare that he believes the story is false, but the image of Obama as Xerxes stuck with me. Pelosi, Stupak, Hoyer the whole lot were ordered to jump overboard and they did.
If history is a guide, the Persian Wars can be viewed as an allegory for the battle between conservatives and statists. The Battle of Marathon when the badly outnumbered Athenians defeated the Persians under Darius in 490 BC would be analogous to the Clintons' attempt at taking over health care...the Persians landed at Marathon and were promptly whupped. Yesterday was, in my opinion, analogous to Thermopylae...and in a lot of ways. The good guys (those that love freedom) were ultimately defeated, but they put up a spirited defense. Remember, the way the Persians finally defeated the Spartans was when a Greek traitor, Ephialtes (Stupak?), told the Persians about a goat path that led behind the Spartan line. Now in fairness, the Republicans should never have gotten in this predicament...they are where they are because they betrayed the trust of the American people - a lesson that will soon be dealt to the presiding Democrats - but then, if the Athenians had not meddled with the Ionian city states in Asia, Darius and Xerxes might have left them alone. In each case, the seeds for defeat were sown long before. But at least they held firm together and died honorably. "Honor;" what a quaint, distinctly western concept. The Democrats would do well to consider the rest of the story after Thermopylae. First came the disaster at Salamis, but ultimately came the horrifying defeat at Plataea in 479 BC. Only 3,000 Persians out of 300,000 walked out of that blood bath. The Democrats might do well to look up the term "Pyrrhic victory" while they are at it because I sense an anger and a level of activism I have not seen before...ever. And it is broad based.
I remember the anger of the protests in the 1960's. It was violent and scary and we thought the country was going to tear itself apart. But that was carried out by a small group of people - the anti-Vietnam War folks were primarily radicalized college students; the race riots were primarily agitating (community organizing on steroids) anarchists embedding themselves in a just cause for racial justice. This is different. This will not end in riots and destruction, it is a seething anger that wants retribution. Here's another interesting tidbit: this "reform" bill, which bloats the size of the IRS, takes over the private institutions of student loans and wrecks the most innovative and effective healthcare system in the world, was passed on the same day as the Stamp Act in 1765. OK, to be precise, the Stamp Act was passed on the 22nd of March, but it was passed in England. By the time the vote was held last night at 11PM, it was already dawn on the 22nd in England, so I think the analogy holds.
For a quick refresher on the significance of the Stamp Act, here's Wikipedia's take:
The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced onstamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp.[1][2] These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, the Stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money.[3] The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense.
The Stamp Act met with great resistance in the colonies. It was seen as a violation of the right of Englishmen to be taxed only with their consent—consent that only the colonial legislatures could grant. Colonial assemblies sent petitions of protests, and theStamp Act Congress, reflecting the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure, also petitioned Parliament and the king. Local protest groups, led by colonial merchants and landowners, established connections through correspondence that created a loose coalition that extended from New England to Georgia. Protests and demonstrations initiated by the Sons of Liberty often turned violent and destructive as the masses became involved. Very soon all stamp tax distributors were intimidated into resigning their commissions, and the tax was never effectively collected.
"Met with great resistance." I should say so...and the tax was "never effectively collected." A volcano has been building in this country. We see charts like this:
and we say to ourselves "what the f...???" And, as the chart illustrates, a pox on both their houses! Out here in the real world, we know that this is unsustainable. And what is Washington doing about it? Well, they are laying on trillions more in income redistribution hastening the "Thatcher moment," when all statists fail - they run out of people to tax and they run out of OUR money. We don't want to be France and we damned sure don't want to be Greece. This is something deep in the American character, call it the "bird versus poultry" mentality.
I have nothing against poultry - I like a good breast of chicken properly grilled. But I wouldn't want to be a chicken. I would much rather be a bird. Now the chicken has some good things going for it: it stays warm in it's coop, free food, hell IT gets free healthcare! You see, statists want to be the farmers and they love it when the people play poultry. They get to tell us how much water we can drink, they provide us with the same dull food everyday...now they are going to provide us with healthcare. This is the European model of statist control that the folks on the far left want to apply here. Now a bird has a riskier life...it might be cold in the winter and have a hard time foraging for food after a heavy snow. But at 500 feet, the bird has a spectacular view; and it can choose where it wants to go. I submit that, if polled, far more Americans would choose the bird's life.
So now the real struggle begins. The statists will blanket the airwaves with messages of how this bill saved healthcare and how wonderful it is! It is a form of anesthesia they are desperately going to try to administer to we, the people. We need to be vigilant and stalwart in avoiding this ruse. The first fight will be in the courts...Obama may rue the day he dragged the Supreme Court up for childish derision in the State of the Pep Rally err, Union speech. If unsuccessful there, it will be fought by the states. Already states attorneys general are lining up to sue...in Tennessee, our governor, a Democrat, has told us that it will cost us over $1 billion in the first five years alone. This from a guy that dismantled our version of Obamacare called Tenncare because it was bankrupting the state. Then it will be fought in the ballot booth come November. Obaxerxes may be triumphant now, but the Oracles are clear about hubris. The day of reckoning awaits.
I have nothing against poultry - I like a good breast of chicken properly grilled. But I wouldn't want to be a chicken. I would much rather be a bird. Now the chicken has some good things going for it: it stays warm in it's coop, free food, hell IT gets free healthcare! You see, statists want to be the farmers and they love it when the people play poultry. They get to tell us how much water we can drink, they provide us with the same dull food everyday...now they are going to provide us with healthcare. This is the European model of statist control that the folks on the far left want to apply here. Now a bird has a riskier life...it might be cold in the winter and have a hard time foraging for food after a heavy snow. But at 500 feet, the bird has a spectacular view; and it can choose where it wants to go. I submit that, if polled, far more Americans would choose the bird's life.
So now the real struggle begins. The statists will blanket the airwaves with messages of how this bill saved healthcare and how wonderful it is! It is a form of anesthesia they are desperately going to try to administer to we, the people. We need to be vigilant and stalwart in avoiding this ruse. The first fight will be in the courts...Obama may rue the day he dragged the Supreme Court up for childish derision in the State of the Pep Rally err, Union speech. If unsuccessful there, it will be fought by the states. Already states attorneys general are lining up to sue...in Tennessee, our governor, a Democrat, has told us that it will cost us over $1 billion in the first five years alone. This from a guy that dismantled our version of Obamacare called Tenncare because it was bankrupting the state. Then it will be fought in the ballot booth come November. Obaxerxes may be triumphant now, but the Oracles are clear about hubris. The day of reckoning awaits.