I did not remember that Captain Picard was in I, Claudius. I have been writing this week about excerpts from Robert Graves’ historical novels which were the basis for the PBS series I, Claudius. Note that these quotes are from the books, not the series, and not the historical figures. I have been reading Mark Krikorian at National Review and he must be reading the books. Here is one quote he shared:
“Caesar, my advice is, be rough with them! Stamp on the worms and watch them wriggle.”
I said, stiffly, “My friend King Herod, you seem to forget that I am Roman and that the powers even of an Emperor depend constitutionally on the will of the Senate. If the Senate sends me a message which I am able to answer politely and submissively, I shall not fail to do so.”
“Have it your own way,” Herod answered with a shrug, “but they won’t treat you any better for it. Constitutionally, eh? I must bow of course to your superior authority as an antiquarian, but has the word ‘constitution’ any practical meaning today?”
It seems that, to a degree, Obama is following the advice of Herod—his executive order creating amnesty illegal immigrants, for example. (Note that I am not saying that a program like his is not inevitable, or even desirable, I am saying it is illegal.) I doubt that the founding fathers had executive kill lists in mind either. I am sure I could do a credible rant on all the illegal acts of Obama. And yes, most of them were just continuations of previous presidential policies.
But the question I have for today is, “Have we reached a tipping point?” Or to paraphrase Claire Wolfe, “Is it time to shoot the bastards?” Here is how she described our modern situation:
America is at that awkward stage. It’s too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.
Wolfe may be right, it may be too late to work within the system—all that will accomplish is to corrupt the participant. I am not convinced that a proper Christian response to tyranny is revolution. If I have been alive in the Revolutionary period, I might have been a Tory. I think that everyone would agree that such a time could come, and the risk is real that we might end up lining up for the trains to take us to the concentration camps like the Jews in Poland, for the most part, did.
I think we are a lot closer to such a tippling point than is commonly understood. I am referring to both the tipping point for tyranny and the tipping point for revolution.
I watched Alex Jones on Max Keiser this week.
I think Jones is a kook who only cares about Alex Jones. His performance on constitution-hating Piers Morgan’s show on CNN was a disgrace. He set back second amendment rights, but promoted Alex Jones. I could not stomach the whole Max Keiser program, but Jones said little in the part I watched that I did not agree with. If Alex Jones sounds reasonable to me, that might mean my own personal tipping point is near.
The government is not God, even though it thinks it is. Claudius knew he wasn’t God, but everyone treated him as one, as the human personification of the genius of the state. I think modern Christians have a real problem with idolatry and the state. At least Obama is showing many of them the futility of that, unlike Bush who, because he was of the right party and made noises about abortion… was without sin.
What will you do when your own personal tipping point is reached? Has Voldemort already taken over the Ministry of Magic?
(I do not really approve of either Jones or Keiser, but if you want to watch it, click here.)