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.

09FEB2023 – Quote of the Day

Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine;

Or leave a kiss but in the cup

And I’ll not look for wine.

Come my Celia, let us prove,

While we can, the sports of love;

Time will not be ours forever,

He at length our good will sever.

Spend not then his gifts in vain;

Suns that set may rise again,

But if once we lose this light,

‘Tis with us perpetual night.

Why should we defer our joys?

Fame and rumour are but toys.

Ben Jonson

Skipping the Disunion of the States

So they’re going to shoot Dopey Joe up with Ritalin and fill the gallery with BLM and Antifa and everybody will clap for the Ukraine and award Joe the Congressional Medal of Honor for shooting down the Chinese Balloon.  Does that sound like a good time to you?

I don’t think I could stand that much fun.  I think I’ll skip it.  I’ll use the time on something more productive.  I’ll scrape hard water stains off the shower floor.  I’ll be MIA this afternoon so I’m writing this piece now.  I read an article about the approach Ron DeSantis took for reforming that Florida state college.  He appointed conservatives to the Board of Directors and they fired the college president on day one.  Now they’re working on removing the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion department and will begin hiring new professors for the upcoming school year.

Now, that’s the way to do it.  Cut off the head and start over.  No pussyfooting around the edges.  Go for the jugular.  It’s beautiful.  Now, how about the rest of the Florida State University system?  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  I think the country gains much more with Ron DeSantis as the governor of Florida as opposed to him being president.  The president is a hostage of the intelligence agencies.  He should be the chairman of the Red State governors’ council (when they get around to forming one) and he can begin to help the rest of the country free itself from Washington’s corrosive effects.

It’s going to take coordination and planning to begin neutralizing the damage that Washington does and Ron DeSantis could maximize the good he can do by beginning to formalize a relationship between the Red States.  The first step would be to define what a Red State is.  Would it just consist of republican dominance of the state’s government?  Or would it include social positions too?  Obviously too much purity testing would blow up the whole process of forming a coalition but I think some list of basic positions must be established.  But they should make a start on it.  And high on the list of actions is a mechanism for protecting their citizens from federal persecution for the unconstitutional actions of the federal government.

And protecting police officers and police departments from the Justice Department is at the top of the list.  The chaos we’ve lived through for the last decade on account of Obama’s Justice Department attacking the police proves that.  Without the police doing their job things descend into anarchy, as we’ve seen in all the big cities of late.

So, the 2024 election is on everybody’s minds.  But I’m more interested in seeing the governors get together and start to organize themselves into something that can help us now.  Because as far as I can tell, the federal government is lost.  At the very least, if Ron DeSantis wants to be president, he’d better leave a successor to carry on the work he started.  Maybe he can have his wife get the job.  I’m sure he’ll have some influence with her and make sure she doesn’t go Left.  Then when he is term-limited out he can get back to work in Florida trying to restore freedom to America, one state at a time.