{"id":214,"date":"2010-03-30T20:57:51","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T00:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/?p=214"},"modified":"2010-03-30T20:57:51","modified_gmt":"2010-03-31T00:57:51","slug":"the-cloud-passes-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/the-cloud-passes-by\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cloud Passes By."},"content":{"rendered":"

The realization appeared like the sun at long last peeking from the edge of a black cloud. You can call it tyranny, despotism, oppression or persecution \u2013 even terrorism. On a global scale, tyrants obliterate the weak and fearful. On a schoolyard, bullies abuse the meek and timid. But the venue isn\u2019t the issue, is it? No, the realization is that all forms of tyranny \u2013 from dictatorships to organized crime to neighborhood gangs — operate under the identical <\/strong>model. It\u2019s called extortion<\/em>. The toughs visit storeowners and \u201coffer\u201d protection for a fee. Mafia organizations \u201cpersuade\u201d city officials that they are best equipped to handle essential services. The Federal Government, in its benign munificence, decides it will \u201chelp\u201d uplift the fate of Mankind by assuring that all citizens share in the Nation\u2019s wealth. Comparing a democratically elected government to the Mafia surely is a baseless, if not slanderous, accusation. You should be ashamed, even condemned for the implication. Comparing hundreds of members of Congress to hoodlums goes beyond the pale of civil discussion. Anyway, criminals \u2013 hoodlums — use force to confiscate your wealth; they tell you what you must give and what you must do. Surely, the Federal Government doesn\u2019t invade your liberty and garnish your wages at the point of a gun. Surely not. Surely, all the Federal Government does is control what it must to make life fair for everyone. Some decisions are just too important to be left to American citizens \u2013 decisions about health, about education, about energy, about housing and about gun control. In fact, on your behalf and for your protection, the Federal Government must rightly take control of certain private businesses. You must realize that government can\u2019t provide protection in all of these vital areas without having the resources \u2013 your money \u2013 to do a proper job. If you leave all these decisions to individual Americans, the country inevitably would flounder and millions would suffer. You see, then, that comparing Washington to Organized Crime is only true in the sense that both offer protection using your money. You must concede that Organized Crime and other gangs use coercion, corruption, bribes, intimidation and even physical violence. That can\u2019t be true of your elected leaders. You admit that many of them are known to be guilty of perjury, tax fraud, adultery, bribery, plagiarism, malfeasance in office and other such human failings; but you\u2019re confident they would never condone violence or threat of violence. Then, as the cloud passes by, you see more clearly and remember the conversation between The Godfather\u2019s<\/em> Michael Corleone and his beloved Kay:
\nMICHAEL
\nI’m working for my father now, Kay. He’s been sick — very sick. <\/em>
\nKAY
\nBut you’re not like him, Michael. I thought you weren’t going to become a man like your
\nFather. That’s what you told me… <\/em>
\nMICHAEL
\nMy father’s no different than any other powerful man <\/em>— (then, after Kay laughs)
\n— any man who’s responsible for other people, like a senator or a president.
\nKAY <\/em>
\nYou know how naive you sound? <\/em>
\nMICHAEL
\nWhy? <\/em>
\nKAY
\nSenators and presidents don’t have men killed… <\/em>
\nMICHAEL
\nOh \u2013<\/em> (now) who’s being na\u00efve, Kay? <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The realization appeared like the sun at long last peeking from the edge of a black cloud. You can call it tyranny, despotism, oppression or persecution \u2013 even terrorism. On a global scale, tyrants obliterate the weak and fearful. On a schoolyard, bullies abuse the meek and timid. But the venue isn\u2019t the issue, is … Continue reading The Cloud Passes By.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steammarketing.com\/fodder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}