With North Korea and South Korea teetering on the brink of war and shit blowing up in just about every other hemisphere on the planet the following “quote” may be of topical interest
Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.
How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
Although some people attribute this to Julius Caesar himself or even William Shakespeare in his play of the same name there is no direct evidence that either of them ever said anything of the sort. As a matter of fact, the Shakespeare theory has been completely debunked and nobody has ever been able to link these words back to Caesar.
As a matter of fact, there are no records of this quote until sometime after the year 2000 when they began gaining a measure of popularity on the Internet. I don’t think that diminishes the strengths or the sentiments of the words themselves.
Many on the right are calling for the United States to “act” like a superpower and retaliate against the North Koreans for what is most likely an unprovoked attack on the South.
Those same people often claim that the United States shouldn’t act as the world’s policeman when it comes to the violence and genocide that’s going in places like Sudan
Many on the left are calling for the United States to show a degree of constraint when it comes to the recent events between North and South Korea. They want the United Nations to handle the matter.
Those same people on the left would like the United States to intervene directly in the events in Sudan since the United Nations effort there has been an abject failure in controlling the events described above.
I’ve become jaded. The left and the right are basically arguing for the same outcome using the same kneejerk reactions. The only things that change are the players who play the game.
Meanwhile here in the States in airports all across the land the TSA is patting down pre-pubescent boys and girls as well as the elderly and the infirmed. All this in the name of “security”.
Ben Franklin must be rolling in his grave