DEMOCRACY:
Government & Politics | December 10, 2004
KING
GEORGE
A
TYRANT?
A
Posting in "Comments
From Left Field"
By
"The Scarecrow" *
In
response to my previous posting,
one Fritz doth
comment...
George Bush winning the Presidency does not a tyranny make.
Remember: the key is a "long train of abuses", not
policy proposals that we disagree with. Indeed, it wasn't George
III who was the real problem, though the Declaration uses language
to that effect, but the fact that the Parliment of England
wouldn't recognize the Americans as having the rights of English
men. The Americans wanted representation in Parliment first,
independence when they realized the wouldn't get it.
To which your humble servant, The Scarecrow, doth reply...
Let us put aside for the moment the entire issue of whether or not
your government is truly "representative" -- whether
your George the Second was truly elected President and
not simply coronated by the vote-counting machinations of
his well-placed friends -- for in the England of my day,
Parliament was "representative" in name only; it was not
truly responsive to the needs of the many, superceded by the wants
of a few -- at home, in Ireland, in America, in the West Indies,
in India, and beyond.
Be that as it may, a tyrant can indeed be recognized by his
"long train of abuses and usurpations", as so eloquently
stated by Mister Jefferson, in your Declaration of Independence;
and by that very standard, your "King George" -- whom I
so entitle because, as I see it, in the cold light of reality, he
has been no more elected to govern than that scoundrel in the
Ukraine -- is guilty of tyranny -- not simply implementing perhaps
well-meaning but misdirected policy -- and notoriously so!
As Mister Jefferson continued, "let Facts be submitted to a
candid world." And when reviewing the facts I will presently
submit, please ask yourselves, my friends and foes, would not any
leader thus described be also, quite truly, called tyrant?
He has waged war on a sovereign nation for false and misleading
reasons, in violation of International law, thus making
your country a pariah amongst nations.
He has broken faith with his loyal troops, by violating the terms
of their contracts of service, keeping them in arms and in harm's
way in a state of involuntary servitude for indefinite
periods, not prescribed by law.
He has sent forces into battle -- at a time and place of his
own choosing -- without the means and materiel necessary for
their well-being and survival, at the cost of hundreds of lives
and thousands of limbs and eyes and minds of the best amongst you.
He destroyed a nation with no plan within the realm of reason
to rebuild that nation, at the cost of untold tens of thousands of
lives etcetera of a foreign and largely innocent population, whom
he purports to liberate but most likely will subjugate; the
government of that nation surviving at his pleasure --
semi-autonomous at best, anarchical at worst -- the natural
resources of that nation raped to enrich those propping
up his regime.
He has unleashed and inflamed the forces of terrorism
upon this nation, that nation, and those of your allies, whom he
time and again antagonizes, with hostile and deceptive acts of
so-called diplomacy.
He has impoverished and will impoverish millions of his
own countrymen with the enactment of laws and regulations -- and
the emasculation of other laws and regulations -- that results in
the enrichment of the rich and the crippling of the
economy.
He has raided the national Treasury and taken funds set
aside for the care and upkeep of the elderly and the infirm and
once again given the proceeds to the wealthiest and most powerful
amongst you.
He actively seeks to increase such burdens upon the poor and the
old and the ill and all who are less powerful for generations
to come.
He is indifferent to the suffering of millions who cannot afford
to care for their health; indeed, he assists those powerful
interests exploiting the misfortune of others.
He has allowed vast tracts of the nation's lands and forest and
seashores to be laid to waste, providing a temporary
increase in wealth for his powerful friends at the price of
irreparable harm to the priceless heritage of the nation.
He has by law and regulation and by appointments judicial sought
and all-too-often achieved reductions of protections and
assistance for women and people of color and any and all other
citizens whose share of power has by tradition and prejudice been
less than that which is rightfully their due.
He has fostered a general and despicable climate of intolerance
and outright hostility towards anyone who is in anyway
"different" in the exercise of their personal -- yet
harmless -- freedoms, particularly in matters religious. He seeks
-- through actions that speak louder than any words he may utter
to the contrary -- to tear down the wall separating
Church and State.
He professes to speak for the Almighty in both small and
grand affairs of State, thus truly serving neither God nor
Country.
He...
I could go on, but to what purpose? If these reasons are
insufficient for King George to be condemned as a tyrant,
then what more can one say?
As I wrote most previously, as your Benjamin Franklin wrote
originally, "a word to the wise is sufficient..." And no
number of words to the unwise is ever enough.
Choose and act wisely, my friends and foes. History is littered
with the ruins of nations that forgot the most essential element
of governance: That which is fairest is usually the
wisest.
Your obedient 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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