-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.1/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.1/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 3 Issue 1</A> The Laissez Faire City Times January 4, 1999 - Volume 3, Issue 1 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ----- A Plebeian President by Jack Ryan The malaise of the American public regarding Bill Clinton's crimes is indeed troubling, but not totally unprecedented. History, as we know, has a way of rearing its ugly head to bite us all in the arse if we fail to heed its lessons. So it is with a jaundiced eye on the past that many look at the present, asking ourselves, "When will we ever learn?". Judging by the latest Clinton approval numbers, our sun may be a bloated red giant before we deem to learn from history by not repeating it. Mainly, that the rule of law supplants the rule of man. Indeed, history is replete with petty dictators and power-hungry tyrants who learned their lessons the hard way. Mr. Clinton, who sees his runaway popularity as a shield against his crimes, has taken on the aura not of a president, but of a ruler. A king. A man both above the law and, yea, above the Constitution itself. Like the competitive high jumper, each time the legal bar is raised, Mr. Clinton is there with another leap to defeat it. As of late, the constitution has become nothing more than a door mat at the entrance to the Oval Office. It appears as if the people, their heads buried in the sands of prosperity, could care less. The trains are on time, 401k's are growing like lilies in the field and--aside from occasionally pumping a billion dollars worth of cruise missiles into aspirin factories and Bedouin tents--the US is at peace. The American people, fat, intellectually lazy and over- satiated on the fruits of affluence, see no barbarians at their gates, so why rock the ship of state? The problem here is that the barbarians were never at the gates. They reside within 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and at every address from New York to Anchorage. They are us. Some on the right side of the aisle have cited the people's ambivalence as a major source of frustration. Some have even likened today's atmosphere to that of the German people's lassitude when Adolph Hitler made his play for the German chancellorship. That is a mistake, for many reasons that I won't touch on here. Mr. Clinton doesn't appear ready to unload a blitzkrieg on Quebec, or dive-bomb Mexico into submission. Suffice it to say that while Mr. Clinton is in no way comparable to Hilter in deed or beliefs, that in itself does not remove him from historical comparisons. Several months ago, whilst perusing the Free Republic web site, I read an interesting observation. (Free Republic is a conservative forum universally united in seeing to it that Bill Clinton is tarred, feathered, and if humanly possible, imprisoned in a jail cell with some 300-pound homosexual named Bruno). The post that interested me detailed Mr. Clinton's excessive use of the Executive Order function--that Clinton saw himself more a king than a constitutionally-elected head of state. Some even compared him to modern-day Julius Caesar, ruling his republic from on high. Like Caesar, William Jefferson Clinton is a charismatic, witty, calculating, and highly intelligent politician. Indeed, his savvy in the political arena has hitherto been unmatched in American politics. For reasons we may never know, Mr. Clinton has the uncanny ability to arouse undying loyalty and admiration from his followers, even the most tepid among them. Conversely, he is universally despised by those on the other side of the spectrum. With few exceptions, never has one politician managed to so thoroughly polarize two political affiliations. I found the Roman comparison interesting only in that the comparison of Clinton to Gaius Julius Caesar is akin to comparing apples to orange pits. In fact, contrasting Caesar's greatness to the self-absorbed, prepubescent, 50-something perjurer in the White House, only manages to further spotlight Bill Clinton's historical insignificance. Simply put, Bill Clinton would not have been worthy of washing Caesar's toga. Certainly there are historians whom would argue that Caesar was not above political mischief, that he was not the least bit hesitant to murder or torture his political enemies for political gain. That said, when one makes historical comparisons, one must frame them within the confines of what was acceptable behavior at the time. Caesar, for all his shrewdness, for all his political brilliance, for all his tremendous ego was no better or worse than any other politician of his time. Never one to look a gifthorse in the mouth, Caesar truly cared about the republic and the ordinary denizens of Rome--the plebes. Clinton, on the other hand, sees his rise to power as a gift from himself and his power-mad overseer, Hillary Rodham. Although only a lowly plebe from the backwaters of Arkansas, Mr. Clinton dragged his fellow plebes with him to DC for a six-year hoe-down at the republic's expense. Forget gifthorses. Not only does this president routinely look his gifthorses in the mouth, he's also not opposed to putting a gift into other people's mouths. Perhaps that was acceptable in Rome during Caesar's time. In 1999 America, it is barbaric in ways that Caesar must have truly understood. Bill Clinton is indeed a man born several hundred years late. Like Clinton, Caesar's boundless ambition and the contempt he displayed for his republic's traditions, political and institutional, earned him the loathing and enmity of his political enemies. So too is Clinton either loved or hated--there is very little middle ground on which to set foot. Ambition and political acumen mark the similarities between Clinton and Caesar. That's where the chariot race stops. The differences far outrun the similarities. Caesar was a dazzling general. It was through his military conquests that he eventually rose to power, first as Dictator of Rome for 10 years, then, eventually, Dictator for Life. Caesar was a brilliant strategist, and his bravery in the face of overwhelming odds was well documented by his contemporaries-- demonstrated when Caesar's battle-hardened legions annihilated Pompey's considerably larger army at Pharsalus in 48 BC. We know, of course, that history will record Bill Clinton as sniveling coward who avoided military service. History will record that whilst young American men were dying in the squalid rice paddies of Vietnam, Bill Clinton was protesting against his country at Oxford. To compare Clinton to Caesar is to sully and soil the reputation of a man who earned the moral authority to lead by way of his glorious victories on the battlefield. Lest we forget, it was Caesar who coined the phrase, " Veni, vidi, vici." "I came, I saw, I conquered." In contrast, Clinton's motto may one day be: "I came, I saw, I boffed her". Caesar's legions looked upon him with awe and respect, ready to follow him (and did) to ends of the earth-- Gaul, North Africa, Britannia, Spain, Greece. The brave Roman soldier, with Caesar as commander-in-chief, gladly fought for the glory of Rome in his name. First, because each solder was a citizen of Rome and had a personal stake in each battle's outcome, and second, because Caesar truly led his men by example. So it must be with a smattering of chagrin that soldiers in the field today--in the Middle East, in Bosnia, or in Haiti--look back to American shores with an unspoken plea on their lips: "Will no one rid us of this meddlesome president?" Whilst good men and women of the armed forces are routinely discharged and disgraced for adulterous acts, their commander in chief has turned the office of the presidency into a greasy bordello. Whilst officers and enlisted marines, soldiers, sailors and airman are expected to hold in their hearts simple concepts such honor, duty and commitment, their commander-in-chief has no honor, no shame, and no commitment other than how far he will degrade his high office in order to protect his most important duty--duty to himself. Caesar, like Clinton, had his share of political enemies--those who were jealous and resented his power. There was no impeachment process back then. The Romans had their own way in which to deal with recalcitrant dictators. On March 15th, 44 BC, a group of conspirators, led by Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus, assassinated Caesar. It was the ultimate censure deal. Certainly, Mr. Clinton doesn't have to worry about a modern-day Brutus in the Senate, but he will look back and rue the day he plucked at Monica Lewinsky's thong underwear. Likewise, he will look back and see the he vastly overestimated the number of friends he had in Congress. Indeed, he has more enemies than friends. Bill Clinton has done more to damage the Democrat party than any Republican before him. Perhaps as the Senate trial begins, and if popular approval turns against him, Mr. Clinton will finally deliver his long over-due resignation speech. It need be only a simple and elegant one-liner: "Et tu Americus?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jack Ryan is a freelance writer. His most recent screenplay "And Hell Came with Him" is currently being packaged for pre-production on the Left Coast. Email:[EMAIL PROTECTED] from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 3, No 1, Jan. 4, 1999 ----- The Laissez Faire City Times is a private newspaper. Although it is published by a corporation domiciled within the sovereign domain of Laissez Faire City, it is not an "official organ" of the city or its founding trust. Just as the New York Times is unaffiliated with the city of New York, the City Times is only one of what may be several news publications located in, or domiciled at, Laissez Faire City proper. For information about LFC, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by Laissez Faire City Netcasting Group, Inc. Copyright 1998 - Trademark Registered with LFC Public Registrar All Rights Reserved ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. 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