“What’s Past is Prologue”
The Past:
THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER” and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.
Thomas Paine: The Crisis. December 1776
The Present:
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Santayana
On the Fourth of July I did a post that has thus far engendered over 300 comments. I claim no credit for the video, mind you, but I am responsible for posting it. That responsibility means I am notified with (and read) each comment. Setting aside the troll visits the comments have been enlightening.
That process, and the process ongoing now is DC, have melded in my head a bit. Toss in this being the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War and the admixture has me scratching my head in curiosity or shaking it in wonder much of the time.
So… In the spirit of sharing with everyone That Damn Song I can’t get of of my head; Is common sense a thing of the past, as lost and useless as knapping flint in the iron age?
Category: Pointless blather, Politics
No, shipmate, it is not lost. There are, however, fewer who possess it amongst those in “leadership” positions, which explains why those who show their appreciation and application of such a thing become applauded by the Hoi Paloi and suffer disdainment and excoriation from their self-appointed “betters”.
We live in dangerous times. The ship of state is close to foundering in a sea of economic morass, while the Quartermaster holds the helm with a loose and palsied hand, knees shaking and mind flitting from one panicked scenario to another. The Navigator pretends to chart of course while making up his own data as he goes along, and the crew on the lines is given conflicting orders, when they are given any orders at all, so the whispering amongst them has begun.
Below decks, the passengers fear for their lives and from ear to ear advice and questions flow quickly and often unanswered while those of the crew below decks are forced by their situation to consider the unthinkable.
Will the ship and crew crash into the waiting rocks, or will a more confident crewman, one with steady hands and unshakeable faith cast aside the Quartermaster in time, and steer the ship to safety?
Thrilling times, indeed, and dangerous, even perilous for us all. We are not yet at the point of no return, but we can see the foaming surf through the storm’s dim light and hear it crashing over reef and jagged ledge not far away.
Zero, do not lose faith. The greatest tool of those that will “change” us is ignorance. You shine a light on the same. Knowledge is the enemy of all who wish to gain power through unscrupulous means. Keep shining the light in these dark times, keep your head up Battle.
to quote Kipling:
You talk o’ better food for us, an’ schools, an’ fires, an’ all:
We’ll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don’t mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow’s Uniform is not the soldier-man’s disgrace.
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute!”
But it’s “Saviour of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot;
An’ it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ anything you please;
An’ Tommy ain’t a bloomin’ fool — you bet that Tommy sees!
Welcome to the notion of history being a spiral: not quite a repeat, but close enough to give one pause.
Having gotten seasick reading AW1 Tim, the frequent bouts of nautical analog remind me why I’m not amphibious. But I think I agree with him.
Current thought: the economies of the Middle Ages was a mix of communist, and socialist, depending upon the quality of enlightenment of the nobility. There was almost zero social mobility, and serfs were tied to the land – rather like today with mortgages being underwater and all.
So perhaps we’re not headed for a Marxist Utopia after all: but a monarchy based on the fuedal system that existed pre-Renaissance?
DaveO #3: Yeah, cherry picking quotes from Shakespeare, Paine, and Santayana is a sketchy logical position at best. Still, I hope I pulled it together somewhat with my own words?
I kinda liked Tim’s wordplay, but I’m a bit more direct myself.
A simply worded version might have read: WTF, insanity has been defined as doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. What happened to common sense?
And… I’m afraid yer last paragraph, sadly, rings true. In the dystopic novel 1984 MOST folks acquiesced.
Zero, DaveO Your points are well taken, however there is more to do then simply bemoan the demise of a once great civilization. The whole “the last Centurion took a Barbarian Bride” mentality smacks of defeat.
The only way you preserve what is what was and what might still be revolves around men like yourselves NOT being silent. Your post that had over 300 posts shows that debate is still a faculty you, and many others have. So USE that skill. You know WHY the hard Left is able to pull so many stunts that have most of us knuckle draggers(and in AW1 Tim’s case, Old Salts) gnashing our teeth? Because despite the fact that logic is a concept as foreign to them as soap, they are strangely VERY organized (another Irony as they often advocate anarchy). Do not despair. DO something.
Do not despair. DO something.
Which is exactly what the left so fears, that if they awaken the sleeping giant that is currently the apathetic public who sees the liberals in this country for what they truly are, it will spell doom for their policies and likely for the Democrat party for the near future.
So they demagogue, call us racists, accuse us of being quick to the trigger, (despite their history of being all too quick to violence) and tell us that we’re extremists in an attempt to cow those who might otherwise fight into submission.
But the problem they don’t yet recognize, is that such tactics might work for a while, but they never last forever. The day is coming when the PEOPLE will take back their government, not the other way around.