Bread and Circuses Again

Today was a work day so I had to … work.  But later on, I wrote what I think is an interesting post.  But at the last minute I decided to let the American Greatness folks take a look at it in case they want to publish it there.  So right now, I haven’t got a nice shiny article to put up on the site here yet.

But I’ve been thinking lately about the situation of us plain old people who were just minding our own business trying to be good Americans when the people in charge decided to change the rules without bothering to get our consent, or even for that matter to let us know they were doing it.

I was trying to think of an equivalent case in history and as much as it’s a hackneyed example I keep coming back to the plebians of the Roman Republic.  Just as with us the plebians were the source of the strength of the Empire.  They were the legions that Rome used to batter the peoples of the surrounding Mediterranean world into submission.  But once they had destroyed Carthage, Gaul, Macedon and the other successor states from Alexander’s empire they were expendable.  Now that most of Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor were the private estates of the senatorial class and resistance could be handled by a smaller professional army the Roman people were just a burden and a nuisance for their patrician countrymen.  And so, they let them rot.  Now eventually that would spell the death of the empire but for a couple of hundred years the rich feasted on hummingbird tongues while their former countrymen were turned into serfs.

And so too have our elites decided we are a nuisance and a burden.  But they don’t want us to rot.  They don’t want us for serfs.  They want us to utterly disappear.  The Romans gave the plebes of Rome bread and circuses to keep them amused and out of trouble as they rotted away.  Our overlords have selected the internet and fentanyl to do the job.

And that should be the lesson to learn.  Do not allow yourself to be engulfed by the snares that they use to rot your mind and will.  Don’t become dependent on the worst aspects of the current system.  Learn skills that have value to those around you and use those skills to obtain things that have real value for you.  Earn a living, find a mate, form a family, build a life.  Mostly everything else is bread and circuses.

Waiting for Caesar to come along and fix everything is a delusion.  When Caesar does appear, he’ll use us to get rid of the other strong men to consolidate his control and continue with bread and circuses.  Only the strong and the smart stay free.  Only a large and vigorous middle class can hold its own against the robber class.  If that middle class disappears you had better find out where they went and head that way too.

I’ve mentioned before the story of Priscus back in 450 AD.  He was one of the ambassadors from the Eastern Roman Emperor to Attila the Hun.  While engaged in his mission at Attila’s base he met a Hun who surprisingly spoke perfect Greek.  Priscus engaged him in conversation and learned his story.  He was a Greek whose city had been overrun by the Huns and taken prisoner.  Eventually he was able to earn his freedom and even become a soldier in the Hun army.  When Priscus berated him for becoming a traitor to his civilization he answered that life under the empire had become virtually a form of slavery and living as a marauder was a happier and much freer existence.

When life under the present regime becomes slavery or worse, then it’s time to look elsewhere for a better life.  That may be in a Red State or in another country.  You’ll know it’s time when you can no longer live the life that gives you the things that make life worth living.  Each man has to decide when he’s reached that point.  A hint will be when they tell you that from now on, you’ll be eating insects instead of meat.