America’s Thebans

Posted on August 1, 2003 in Citizenship Fact-Dropping

The voters who support Bush and say that because he is the president he can tell no lies — because when he speaks, they accept his reversals of fact as truths –are America’s Thebans. The Thebans sold out to the Persians. Poor Republicans dream that tomorrow, next week, next month, next year they will be in the top 1% — every one of the 39% of the country’s population who supports George W. Bush against their own interests. This is why they sell out to our contemporary Persians — the big corporations and the big money Republicans. They would sooner end up slaves than equals of their countrymen.

Twice, the Greeks turned the Persians back. First at Marathon and then later at Salamis. When the Greeks saw the vastly superior Persian forces coming for a second time, they rushed to the Oracle at Delphi and asked “what do we do?” “Trust in the wooden walls” was the Oracle’s asphyxiated reply.

Some built walls around the Acropolis. The Persians easily overcame them. Down at Piraeus, others built a navy. At the battle of Salamis, these wooden walls defeated the superior Persian force and saved the region from foreign domination until the coming of the Romans.

The question is what are the wooden walls we need to put up today? What clever strategem need we employ to repel this invasion of those institutions of our nation which ensure our freedom and our equality from the bondage of the privileged classes? There will always be Thebans. How do we prevent their infamous alliance from triumphing over the good of the nation?