Peter Lemiska
The Pied Piper from the Windy City
An American fairy tale
By Peter Lemiska
There once was a young man from the Windy City to the North. He was a bright and arrogant young man with boundless ambition. But what made him extraordinary was his engaging smile and his way with words.
Now this young man had many friends in the Windy City, but two very special friends, Jeremiah and William had a secret. Though they lived in a land that was lush and bountiful, and full of opportunity, they hated the land they lived in. But they knew they could never leave because there was no place in the world more beautiful. So they became obsessed with changing the land, and they knew they could not do that alone.
They asked their extraordinary friend if he would help them convince the rest of the people throughout the land that it was indeed a mean place, a terrible place to live, and that it needed to be changed.
The young man said, "What can I do? I have nothing with which to sway the people but my engaging smile and my way with words."
"Perhaps that will be enough," said Jeremiah and William, "that, and a few gold ducats."
"And just where will we get the gold ducats?" asked the young man.
"Simple," the two cagey friends said. "We will take them from the wealthy land barons."
"Yes, of course" agreed the young man, "and if we do not get enough from the wealthy land barons, we can take some from the merchants."
So the plan was set in motion, and the extraordinary young man began his quest, traveling across the countryside, sowing the seeds of discontent and convincing the villagers that they lived in a terrible land, and he used his way with words to spread hope and the promise of change. And he gave all of the villagers the gold ducats taken from the land barons and the merchants.
And the people followed — they followed not knowing where they were going and not caring where the gold came from.
Yes, you're right. The story is not entirely true. It's a fairy tale. In fact, the young man from Chicago may not be as extraordinary as he and his followers believe.
For real history is rife with once-obscure individuals who rose to power by touting themselves as agents of change. Driven by boundless ambition, they used their fiery rhetoric to foist their revolutionary ideas on the masses. We call them leaders only because they had a following, but most of them possessed none of the qualities that distinguish true leaders, like conviction, courage, integrity, and selflessness. And because they lacked those attributes, the changes they brought about were quite different from those they promised, and were rarely what the people bargained for.
Senator Obama came from nowhere and has a fairly murky background. We know virtually nothing about his character and less about his deep-seated values and ideologies. We are therefore left to judge him by his public image and those eloquent, well-rehearsed words he delivers to frenzied crowds. But in the rare instances when he's caught off guard, we're able to get a brief glimpse at his core beliefs, and we see a different man. It happened in San Francisco when, speaking to a friendly audience, he talked about small town Americans who "cling to guns and religion." And again more recently when he said in an unguarded moment, "When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
This much we do know about Barack Obama. The non-partisan "National Journal" identified him as the most liberal of all senators for the year 2007. If he wins the presidency, and Democrats gain in the House and Senate, more liberal Supreme Court Justices are sure to follow, and this country will undergo the most dramatic transformation in its history. Obama's war on wealth will not only snuff out America's competitive spirit, but it will jeopardize the very principles and values that brought us from a band of enterprising colonists to the greatest power in the world.
All because the people allowed themselves to follow a young man offering not much more than an engaging smile and a way with words — and oh yes, a socialist agenda.
© Peter Lemiska
There once was a young man from the Windy City to the North. He was a bright and arrogant young man with boundless ambition. But what made him extraordinary was his engaging smile and his way with words.
Now this young man had many friends in the Windy City, but two very special friends, Jeremiah and William had a secret. Though they lived in a land that was lush and bountiful, and full of opportunity, they hated the land they lived in. But they knew they could never leave because there was no place in the world more beautiful. So they became obsessed with changing the land, and they knew they could not do that alone.
They asked their extraordinary friend if he would help them convince the rest of the people throughout the land that it was indeed a mean place, a terrible place to live, and that it needed to be changed.
The young man said, "What can I do? I have nothing with which to sway the people but my engaging smile and my way with words."
"Perhaps that will be enough," said Jeremiah and William, "that, and a few gold ducats."
"And just where will we get the gold ducats?" asked the young man.
"Simple," the two cagey friends said. "We will take them from the wealthy land barons."
"Yes, of course" agreed the young man, "and if we do not get enough from the wealthy land barons, we can take some from the merchants."
So the plan was set in motion, and the extraordinary young man began his quest, traveling across the countryside, sowing the seeds of discontent and convincing the villagers that they lived in a terrible land, and he used his way with words to spread hope and the promise of change. And he gave all of the villagers the gold ducats taken from the land barons and the merchants.
And the people followed — they followed not knowing where they were going and not caring where the gold came from.
Yes, you're right. The story is not entirely true. It's a fairy tale. In fact, the young man from Chicago may not be as extraordinary as he and his followers believe.
For real history is rife with once-obscure individuals who rose to power by touting themselves as agents of change. Driven by boundless ambition, they used their fiery rhetoric to foist their revolutionary ideas on the masses. We call them leaders only because they had a following, but most of them possessed none of the qualities that distinguish true leaders, like conviction, courage, integrity, and selflessness. And because they lacked those attributes, the changes they brought about were quite different from those they promised, and were rarely what the people bargained for.
Senator Obama came from nowhere and has a fairly murky background. We know virtually nothing about his character and less about his deep-seated values and ideologies. We are therefore left to judge him by his public image and those eloquent, well-rehearsed words he delivers to frenzied crowds. But in the rare instances when he's caught off guard, we're able to get a brief glimpse at his core beliefs, and we see a different man. It happened in San Francisco when, speaking to a friendly audience, he talked about small town Americans who "cling to guns and religion." And again more recently when he said in an unguarded moment, "When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."
This much we do know about Barack Obama. The non-partisan "National Journal" identified him as the most liberal of all senators for the year 2007. If he wins the presidency, and Democrats gain in the House and Senate, more liberal Supreme Court Justices are sure to follow, and this country will undergo the most dramatic transformation in its history. Obama's war on wealth will not only snuff out America's competitive spirit, but it will jeopardize the very principles and values that brought us from a band of enterprising colonists to the greatest power in the world.
All because the people allowed themselves to follow a young man offering not much more than an engaging smile and a way with words — and oh yes, a socialist agenda.
© Peter Lemiska
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