One of the most iconic cinematic moments is Kirk Douglas in the movie Spartacus trying to rally his men before the final battle scene that he knows is stacked against his army. He says, “Friends, I’d rather be here, a free man among brothers, facing a long march and a hard fight, than the richest citizen in Rome: fat with food he didn’t work for, and surrounded by slaves.”
Today I needed Spartacus to liberate me from the bondage that Camera Girl afflicted me with. Out of the blue she declared that today I was to be an agricultural helot. She had me uprooting trees, clearing poison ivy and planting shrubs. As luck would have it today was warm and sunny and the May flies were biting. But I didn’t quail. I took my shovel, rolled up my sleeves and sang a spiritual about Pharoah and the Israelites.
There were no water breaks, no food breaks, not even a bathroom break. She truly is a monster. Finally, just as my back could take no more, the last stubborn root let go and the last tree was out. I finished carrying the offending trees and the other scrap to the mulch pile just as the sun sank below the horizon in Dunwich. Satisfied that the work was complete I was allowed to have my dinner. But because I wasn’t sufficiently grateful for the gruel, I was told that tomorrow I would have to make bricks without straw. How cliché.
So anyway, I was busy today with yard work. I read through the news and it’s interesting just how uniformly bleak are the projections for the Democrats’ chances in the mid-terms. Even CNN and MSNBC are declaring the abysmal approval ratings of Dementia Joe. Of course, they throw in the obligatory qualifier that none of this is Joe’s fault but they have finally landed on the truth that none of the excuses that Biden and Psaki have been claiming seem to be working.
Even though I’m one of the victims of Dopey Joe’s sabotage of the American economy I have the consolation of knowing that it will lose the Democrats control of the legislative branch of the federal government in November. And even though I know that’s a limited victory it’s starting to seem like that won’t be the only consequence. I can’t point to anything specific but I think Americans as a whole have sort of reached the limit of what they’ll put up with from the Democrats and now are looking to get rid of them. Now, how that’s going to happen I don’t know but hopefully there will be some smart guys out there to focus the outrage of the common people and use it to build some kind of movement.
I think it has to start with the governors of the Red States. They have the power and independence from the feds to try and organize a coherent plan to prepare for 2024. To my mind the most important actions would be around preventing voter fraud. That would have a profound effect on morale. And I’ve read that DeSantis has already taken steps in Florida to allow rapid action if voter fraud is suspected.
Well, all this unbridled enthusiasm is dizzying. I have to keep reminding my self that Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy are the top Congressional Republicans. That calms me down pretty quickly. But maybe they won’t be the leaders for long. And I’m not expecting them to be replaced by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. I have no illusions. But I’m sure there are better people out there. I mean, almost anyone would be better. Even Beavis and Butthead would do. I just can’t accept that we will be held captive by these establishment ciphers. Trump showed that if you speak the truth people will follow you. What’s so hard for others to do the same?
So, this is my Spartacus Speech. Fire the drones, the ciphers, the hacks, the grifters. That’s what the primary season should be about this year. And every year. Fire the phonies and give someone else a try. If they fail fire them too. Americans deserve better leaders. We need to stop being afraid of “losing the majority.” A majority with the McConnells and the McCarthys is useless anyway. Get rid of the fakes. We’ll never get anywhere when somehow Mitt Romney is on “our side.”
Where’s that gladiator costume?