PROSPERITY:
Economic Policy | December 20, 2004
YOU
CAN'T
CHEAT
AN
HONEST
MAN (OR
WOMAN)
A
Posting in "Comments
From Left Field"
By
"The Scarecrow" *
My
Fellow Friends of Liberty,
Greetings, from your humble servant, The Scarecrow!
In his summit of last week and his press conference of today,
King George reveals his priorities for his final years in office
-- safe as a lame duck from political reprisals and secure as
the leader of the party in control of both houses of Congress.
Please forgive your ancient writer -- my old ears must not be
what they once were -- but in all of that I did not hear one
word about "gay marriage" or "abortion" or
"morality" (save sermons for foreign peoples in your
"colonies", as of Iraq).
I had thought that that was what your last election was all
about. King George would not have deceived hard-working,
God-fearing people with such holier-than-thou proclamations,
while plotting the enrichment of the rich at the expense of
those and all other commoners, would he?
Of course he would, and did! That is how tyrants
reign -- by deception if possible, by force if necessary -- because otherwise they could not possibly achieve their goals to
the detriment of the masses, who by their sheer numbers if
nothing else (like common sense) hold the true power
in any state.
But the people themselves are, thus, ultimately responsible
for the policies and effects of their government, as impact both
themselves, at home, and others, beyond their borders.
Regardless of whether your election was stolen or not -- and
you know the opinion of yours truly -- it is a most unfortunate
fact of life that more or less half of your citizenry has
"bought" the lies that King George sells, and often
for less than admirable motives.
Presently, King George promises more money for the young when
they are old; but by all accounts, it will either take money
from those who now are old or burden those who are young and
those not yet born with crushing burdens of debt.
If the funds for Securing Society can be managed more
profitably, should not King George and his administration do
so?! What captain of a ship of state when seeing troubled
waters ahead (and the degree and immediacy of the troubles are
also in question) simply leaves the helm and tells the sailors
to fend for themselves? That is not "leadership" -- another of those "values" King George supposedly
championed during his campaign -- that is, frankly, cowardice --
akin to deserting one's post during wartime (a charge not
unfamiliar to the King, when simply a Prince).
However, this particular instance goes beyond that pale. For the
party of the King has long been opposed to not only the details
but also the very concept of "Social
Security"; all too many (fortunately not all) who are rich
and powerful are more than happy for society to be a
free-for-all, every man for himself!
And selfishness is not only a doctrine of hypocrisy for
one who professes to follow the teachings of The Christ but is
also, all too often, the siren song of temptation that
lures commoners to buy into such "get something for
nothing" schemes (King George refuses to even discuss any
pragmatic, probably painful means of reform, which he hopes the
Left will suggest and thus become the scapegoats for).
"Get something for nothing"? As a pixilated, bulbous
nosed comedian of your old moving-pictures once said, "You
can't cheat an honest man."
Resist the temptation, good people; use your common sense and
common decency. The more you care for one another -- old and
young, male and female, well-to-do and wanting -- the more you
care for yourselves...as long as you live and work together as
one nation.
Never let yourselves be divided -- by the short-sighted or
opportunistic at home or abroad -- and you will never be
conquered -- by others or your own baser instincts.
Appealing, as ever, to the better angels of your nature, I
remain...
Your Faithful Servant,
The Scarecrow
*
My alter-ego, after the classic 18th Century character created
in the early 20th Century by Russell Thorndike in his Doctor
Syn novels, adapted in various films. No endorsement of my
commentaries by any other individual or company exists or is implied.
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