Dear Friends,
It seems to me that the best analogy to Roman leaders, as related by Plutarch, to Barack Obama is Nero, so much so that we could call Barack Neo Nero. He composes a play while the World burns. We shall have to wait to see how the play ends, unfortunately, our fates are caught up in the outcome, be it good or bad. Like the original Nero, Obama chooses to play, instead of organizing a bucket brigade.
As I recall, from my reading of Plutarch’s biography of the life of Nero, when Nero came to power he was heralded as a wise man to replace a corrupt Caesar. Initially he was a reformer but soon sank into madness, (possibly brought on by the lead put in the wine by elements of the Praetorian Guard to sweeten it and make the drinker insane). There were even rumors that Nero himself had started the blaze that engulfed Rome so he could rebuild it the way he wanted it to be.
This time around Neo Nero has indeed set the blaze. By his unwise rhetoric. When Obama called the original protester in Tunisia, you remember, the guy who set himself on fire, Rosa Parks. When he called for Hosni to step down but not Ahmadinejad and called for a youthful rebellion in the Middle East, Obama set the blaze, no less than if Nero himself had run naked through Rome, torch in hand, lighting every livery he came to.
The economic breakdown started before Obama came into office. What was Obama’s reaction to the fire he inherited? He tried to smother it with hay. Ratcheting up government spending to unprecedented levels, piled regulation upon regulation, creating a web of red tape only the most skilled, determined and politically connected lawyer could navigate. These piles of hay initially smothered the fire back to a smolder, but now, the fire is catching up to the added fuel.
So, what is Neo Nero doing, now the World is ablaze? He composes a sonnet. He plays the class warfare instrument instead of organizing a bucket brigade. Not a bucket brigade to heap more hay on the pyre but actual water. In this case, water would be to get deficit spending under control, to tamp down the fires in the Middle East and to clear the mounds of regulation from the books.
The Republicans in the House have passed a bill that meets all the needs of the US in regards to disaster relief and PAYGO. It was sent to the Senate and immediately rejected, no compromise, no negotiation. Then the Democrats in the Senate claimed the Republicans are being the party of NO. While never actually passing anything themselves…Yet. Every speech that proposes anything is simply more tax increases to keep us down, more regulation to make sure no one can effectively compete in the marketplace against the new oligarchs like GE, and increased deficit spending that will, sooner rather than later, bankrupt the US and lead to a total collapse.
Meanwhile, back at Radio Ranch, Dale is trying to balance her books. Her mother hasn’t had a social security cost of living increase since Neo Nero came into office. Her husband, Buck, is laid off. Neo Nero has befriended Ming and invited him to give a speech at the UN. Dale is working two jobs while Buck looks for anything that will pay the bills. Neo Nero tells them “Don’t worry, I’ll just extend Buck’s unemployment check a few more months.” Keeping the eventual cliff in the haze for our plucky couple to step off, into the abyss…
As the lot of the people goes down and down Neo Nero thinks Class Warfare is the way to go. He has burned down our economy, created millions of vehement enemies and equipped them with both nuclear weapons, (in the case of Iran) and is helping them aggregate a large geological presence for their Caliphate. The only possible result is a total collapse of the system as we know it along with a good bloody protracted war.
It seems to me that it is impossible that people educated in Harvard have no idea what they are doing. It seems equally implausible that they would want to collapse the system and have such a war. Yet here we have their actions speaking louder than their rhetoric. Actions that seen to imply, at the very least, that our leaders want the World to burn to the ground… So they can rebuild it anew.
In the form they find most pleasing to themselves.
But not the rest of us…
