Posted by
America Forever on Saturday, October 18, 2008 6:00:00 PM
I recently re-read the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. It is about a legend set in medieval Germany that was made into a classic poem by Robert Browning. The piper turns his charm on the children after the townsfolk refuse to pay him for ridding the village of its rat infestation. See http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/hameln.html#browning . You must read the poem, if only, to see the lame boy, whose friends all disappeared into the cavern but who himself wasn't able to join them, relay the message of the promised life as described by the piper:
"For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new;
The sparrows were brighter than the peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagles' wings"
Today, we have a new piper, who is preying not on little children but on grown-up Americans. There is euphoria in the air, it is time for change "we can believe in." Words seem to matter over deeds and character, oratory over substance. People swoon over his rhetoric but his speeches cannot be parsed because they are empty words. The hollow promises that won't be kept or, even more scarily, may be kept -- with a vengeance. The deception of a whole generation of young adults. The audacity to give us the false hope that salvation is coming -- no, not the salvation that can come to each of us when we meet our maker but the salvation offered by a phony messiah. The piper is dragging us (willingly, of course) into the cave in the mountainside by a personal charm and presence that should only scare us out of our wits when we remember other such instances in history. The hubris of an arrogant and, ultimately, ignorant man.
And, what awaits us on the other side? A vain cult of personality that can cause us serious harm. In world affairs, we can find ourselves being tested by unfriendly nations while we have a President who believes that he can change the world (and impress the Europeans) by the sheer melodiousness of his talk. He will undoubtedly be tested in his willingness to stand by Israel and his first reaction to it will be to try his populist style by giving up strategic ground to the militant Islamic nations and forces. What, if anything, will he do to help Israel attack Iran's nuclear facilities? And, what will his reaction be when that conceited smoothness doesn't work on our foes? I can easily see it turn into careless military ventures, such as in Pakistan, where, God forbid, we could lose more soldiers in one month than we have in 7 years in Iraq and Afghanistan. Where will the Pied Piper lead us?
At home, he will tax the economic strength of America. He will destroy the "goose with the golden eggs" that is American business and replace it with a statist policy that will result in "goose eggs" for our economy. He will worsen any recession by increasing taxes and failing to understand the underpinnings of our financial system. He will cater to unions by ending the secret ballot and by failing to supervise their excesses. He will put limits on the right to free speech, including conservative talk radio and we can see the full force of the executive branch brought to bear against his opponents. Not content with Roe v. Wade, there will be laws to support greater abortion rights, no matter what trimester! Watch out Sarah Palin! There will be new and stifling restrictions on hunters and the Constitutional right to bear arms. The educational system will be hurt by a greater emphasis on the social agenda and less on the three R's. The best health care system in the world will be replaced by a European-style state-run monster. The Supreme Court will legislate by deciding according to his standards of "fairness and justice" and not according to the Constitution. The dying welfare state will be reinvigorated through tax credits (how else do you give a tax-break to 95% of Americans, roughly 40% of whom don't pay any federal income taxes in the first place?) and spending for social-engineering purposes will sky-rocket. The poorest of the lemmings aren't likely to benefit in the long run -- they never do -- from this massive infusion of misdirected spending -- it will only help to keep them dependent and impoverished.
I've run out of steam but you know the moral of the Pied Piper story, that Browning draws, is that the piper must be paid. And pay we will in every aspect of our lives resulting in an end to so many things we Americans hold so dear. At the end of his presidency, we will be a disillusioned people desperately hoping and praying for rescue by a Reagan-like leader. Let's hope this tale does not play out because, unlike the apocryphal story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, this could become reality.