Fed up with the present administration, the people said, “Give us a king to govern us, one just like the other nations have.”
Okay then. I have to agree that you haven’t done an especially good job of governing yourselves. You’ve been giving yourselves over to the most inconsequential of pursuits, completely missing that which is essential for your well-being.
But in the interest of full disclosure, let me tell you how the king you are about to choose will rule over you:
He will take your sons - your legacy – and employ them in his imperial processions.
He will unilaterally select for himself an elite cadre of generals and captains to run his war machine. They will build his weapons of warfare and assemble a fleet to effectively deliver those weapons. And, at the designated time, they will clear the way for his conquests.
Your daughters will be put to work in the service sector: beauty salons, restaurants, cafes, and the like.
He will exercise the power of eminent domain against the best of your property, including your crops, orchards, and vineyards, turning them over to his special appointees.
He will tax your earnings and the remainder of your property and use the revenue to fund his expansive bureaucracy.
He will take your top employees and your best machinery into the service of his administration.
He will nationalize your food and clothing industries and, in the end, you’ll be no better than slaves.
And on that day, you’ll express outrage at the king you have chosen for yourselves. But no one will be there to hear you.
But the people said, “We don’t care what you say. We still want a king to govern us. And then we will be just like the other nations.”
Okay then. Give them a king.
ARRGGHH! I’m glad I didn’t read this before November 4th. This is why blogs are better for inconsequential things. A screed like this requires consideration, clearly lacking here. These passages, particularly, struck me as ironic, considering the actions of the current administration, whose head you twice championed in electoral contests:
- He will take your sons – your legacy – and employ them in his imperial processions.
- He will unilaterally select for himself an elite cadre of generals and captains to run his war machine. They will build his weapons of warfare and assemble a fleet to effectively deliver those weapons. And, at the designated time, they will clear the way for his conquests.
- He will tax your earnings and the remainder of your property and use the revenue to fund his expansive bureaucracy.
The current administration, whose remaining phantom of approval comes primarily from the religious right, has expanded the machinery of bureaucracy for the purpose of making war in an unprecedented manner. While I have no illusions that Obama will reduce defense spending (even Carter increased the Pentagon’s budget), he hardly seems war-mongering. Especially when compared to his erstwhile opponent.
As for, “He will take your top employees and your best machinery into the service of his administration,” I’d prefer our government recruiting the best to its current practice of recruiting the dogmatically loyal.
In the same way I’d rather see Obama “nationalize [our] food and clothing industries”, than to see those industries continue on their current exploitative profit-even-at-the-cost-of-human-health-and-safety path (to nationalize something in America, is, after all, to place it under the authority of the popularly elected government).
And if, on that day, I “express outrage at the king [we] have chosen”, I’ll start looking forward to 2012, when that “king” has to reapply for a job.