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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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