No, I’m not talking about any terrorist or terrorist organization. Nor am I talking about any foreign power. I’m talking about us, `We The People´´. As the famous quote from the comic strip character ” Pogo” says: “WE have met the enemy and he is us.” With the help of Google, I was able to learn what the creator of Pogo meant by those words. At a site called I GO POGO, I found this:
The Source: The Best of Pogo, Edited by Mrs. Walt Kelly and Bill Crouch Jr. A Fireside Book, published by Simon & Schuster, Copyright 1982 by Walt Kelly Estate
The Chapter: ZEROING IN ON THOSE POLLUTERS: WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US, By Walt Kelly, Page 224. Beginning with the sixth paragraph:
“In the time of Joseph McCarthyism, celebrated in the Pogo strip by a character named Simple J. Malarkey, I attempted to explain each individual is wholly involved in the democratic process, work at it or no. The results of the process fall on the head of the public and he who is recalcitrant or procrastinates in raising his voice can blame no one but himself. An introduction to Pogo Papers, published by Simon and Schuster in 1952-53, said in part:
‘…Specializations and markings of individuals everywhere abound in such profusion that major idiosyncrasies can be properly ascribed to the mass. Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people, do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the clumsy hands of the cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a certain amount of self conscious expostulation and the desire to join battle.’
‘There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand. Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and tiny blasts of tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.’
As years passed, the final paragraph was reduced to “We have met the enemy and he is us,” in a few strips having to do with pollution. The nine words form the title and theme of a Pogo motion picture currently in work, believing as I do that we are all of us responsible for our myriad pollutions, public, private and political.”
“…we are all of us responsible for our myriad pollutions, public, private and, political.” Mr. Kelly was able to see this back in the 1950′s. Thorough his comic strip he tried to warn the American public. I suspect the subtlety of his messages went over the heads of the majority of those that followed the adventures of Pogo. I, also, find the reference to Joe McCarthy interesting. McCarthy was an ignorant ass; but he wasn’t wrong about the threat of communism.
While `we the people´ were asleep at the switch, socialist/communist idealogues infiltrated every level of our government and of our institutions. `We the people´compounded the problem when we elected socialist/communist as our President. Obama has appointed those of like mind to head the various government agencies and supplemented them with socialist/communist Czars. These agency heads and Czars are accelerating the conversion process with or without the support of Congress and with no regard to the constitutionality of their actions.
Here are just a couple of examples of what I am talking about. First, Bob, at Be Sure You’re RIGHT, Then Go Ahead posted an article about the EPA most recent plan to totally control every drop of water within our borders. This article should scare the hell out of you. Next, you ought to slide over to the Diary of a Mad Conservative and learn how the Department of Transportation to tax you for every mile you drive without the blessings of our Congress.
This is scary stuff, folks. and these are only two examples of how unelected bureaucrats are intentionally tearing away the fabric of this once great nation. `We the people´ are our own worst enemy. We allowed our government to grow into a dangerous beast. Our only chance to save America is to starve the beast. Ane we need to start YESTERDAY. We can not trust our newly elected Congress to do the right thing. The right thing t o do is not in their interest. They don’t want less power. They want more power. Only `We the People´have the power to save America by letting our congressmen and women know, in no uncertain terms, what we expect from them and what will happen to them if they don’t do what we ask. John Carey at the Sentry Journal has said it many times, we must flood our elected officials with letters and E-mails demanding that they begin immediately to starve this beast we call government.
That’s what I’m thinking today. What are your thoughts.
Silverfiddle
May 6, 2011
The water issues is scary, as is the “dust as pollution” issue
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-usa-epa-dust-idUSTRE73I72Y20110419
They won’t directly outlaw productive activity, they will simply regulate it to the point where it is too costly to continue the activity.
Remember Obama saying in effect, “Sure, you can build a coal power plant, it’s just that you will go bankrupt trying to do it”
Conservatives on Fire
May 6, 2011
“They won’t directly outlaw productive activity, they will simply regulate it to the point where it is too costly to continue the activity.”
That is exactly right. Obama was totally honest about his intentions. Who was listening?
nooneofanyimport
May 6, 2011
I was totally thinking of that example too!
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
It is a famous quote. Of course I am ol enogh to remember the Pogo comic strip. Kellly’s stips almost always had a poitcal theme. He left the reader to figure out who the characters represented in real life.
Country Thinker
May 6, 2011
Or, as in the case of Boeing, they will sue productive activity. Or, as in the case of oil prices, they will conduct criminal investigations via a “commission” and use civil and criminal penatlies, as well as media smears to guilt it into submission. The means are plentiful for those ruthless enough to use them.
Bob Mack
May 6, 2011
Thanks for the link, Jim. Speaking of McCarthy, Blacklisted By History, M. Stanton Evans’ investigation into Tailgunner Joe’s charges is in paperback. From a review on Amazon:
Evans aims to give empirical proof that those Senator McCarthy accused of spying for the Soviet Union in the 1950s were guilty of it…Interestingly enough, notes Evans, several important items connected to the truth of McCarthy’s charges, once in government archives, were removed decades ago. Their titles are still listed but the documents are gone.
Conservatives on Fire
May 6, 2011
The documents are gone. Why am I not surprised. Thanks for that info.
azleader
May 6, 2011
It is correct that government is to big, unwieldy and untrustworthy in many critical ways.
The intention of the founding fathers, through the Bill of Rights, was specifically to limit the powers of a central federal government. We’ve lost that important guiding principal over the last 100 years or so.
It is the right course to pursue less government and lower taxes.
Its right not only because big government infringes the rights of individuals and states to impose its will on us, but because its grown so big and now consumes so many national resources that it threatens our prosperous way of life and our economic future.
Conservatives on Fire
May 6, 2011
Big government feeds on the body America and will eventually (soon) consume it. Thanks for such a well thought out comment, AZ.
Always On Watch
May 6, 2011
Truly, America has nobody to blame now except her electorate, who have voted the very intentions of our Founders down the river.
If Americans don’t come to their senses in 2012 and vote Obama and this Democratic Congress out of office, America will never recover. Once those entitlements are adapted to, there’s really no going back.
Conservatives on Fire
May 6, 2011
Agreed. We will never survive another term of Obama and his comrades. We will do well to even make it to the next elections. I don’t get a lot of comfort from most Republicans either.
nooneofanyimport
May 6, 2011
You’ve reminded me of a recent Mind Numbed Robot post, Defining American, where he said:
“It will be the single most important election in which you ever will cast a vote. America lives or dies in 2012.”
You also remind me of my own post “Abandon Ship.” I said “We need to be working overtime to infiltrate and influence the GOP. Just as the left did the Dems. For us, the November 2010 election was only the beginning. If the advance made so far is inadequate, that is our bad. We should have been infiltrating and influencing well before Obama was elected.”
Our bad. Ie, it’s our fault b/c we met the enemy and he is us. We didn’t want to get involved. We didn’t think that our rulers could mess things up this bad.
We were wrong.
Our bad.
Excellent post, my friend. A coupla typos in the last para you could fix and delete this portion of my comment: hoe and ane
G’night and God bless
Linda
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
Thanks, Linda. I’m one of those that believes we are all connected. For reasons we can never understand, that connection at times is almost palpable.
I n the history of our country, not one administration has ever made government smaller. We the people continued to elect people who wanted bigger government. Some how, we didn’t understand that freedom is some that most be protected at all times. At lot of people are waking-up to that fact in the last three years. Do we have the necessary critical mass and do we have time? I don’t know. I’m convinced that at best, 2012, is our last chance. Possibly are most important task is to eliminate the Big Government Republicans from office. It won’t be easy. The Tea Parties are our best hope in my opinion.
Country Thinker
May 7, 2011
@Linda: America lives or dies in the GOP primary, and if things go well, then gets another live-or-die moment in the general. If Romney or Santorum, for example, win the primary, it’s game over. The only difference would be the time.
I hate to draw such a brutal analogy, but imagine you are on death row. You have a choice between today of next week. Perhaps the extra time matters, but the outcome is the same.
I’ve said this elsewhere, and I’ll repeat it here. If the GOP nominates Romney, and my party (the LP) doesn’t have a viable candidate (none have stepped forward yet), I’m voting for Obama. I’d rather get it over with quickly and start putting it back together instead of waiting until my son is approaching his teenage years. Besides, the “optics” would put the spotlight on the Dems, and not even Katie Couric’s cutesy smile would convince Americans that we hit the skids because the federal government was “too small.”
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
I’ve made similar arguments that a quick death would be better than a sloww death. What worries me in either case is that the America people have a much different history than the peoples of the ex-Soviet Union or Cuba or even Venezuela. Americans are likely to react violently. It could get very ugly.
Country Thinker
May 9, 2011
@Jim: That point comes into play in my upcoming novel, The Eagle Has Crashed.
John Scotus
May 6, 2011
Truly the problem is not with the politicians, but with the people (us). Augustine held that evil is not a power or even a quality unto itself, but the absence of virtue. However, virtue is something that must be cultivated–it is a daily choice for self-discipline and self-denial in order to show love to others and to build a better future. One cannot become good by merely following the path of least resistance. Yet, so often, that is exactly what Americans (and people in general) are prone to do, and it is being reflected in the political sphere by Obama’s election (on the left) and even Trump’s mini boom (on the right).
Though a flawed president, Kennedy had one thing right. He said, “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” How many people in America believe this today? How many people in America today are willing to bear any burden to support liberty in the US, much less another country?
We cannot expect our politicians to have virtue if we ourselves are plagued by this very lack.
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
John, thank you for an excellent comment.You, sir, are a profound thinker and an excellent writer. I suspect that many people, perhaps a majority, believe in the principles posed by Kennedy. The trouble, I think; is the people be live it is the governments responsibility to do that for us. It is true that government was created in part to protect our liberties. But the Founders warned us many times about the nature of government; to grow and to over reach. The Founders expected us to be ever vigilant over our government. We were not.
Tony Fernandez
May 7, 2011
Pollution is a problem, but a central agency cannot fix it. We need to treat pollution like any other externality. Get the government out of the way and don’t control it in any way. Allow people who are affected to sue. That way we’ll have a real price on that pollution.
But government give up power? Not in my America.
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
We can not expect government to control themselves. The EPA is possibly the most over-reaching branch of government we have. They are truly dangerous.
Steve Dennis
May 7, 2011
I have to admit that while I have heard that quote many times I never knew where it came from and I never would have thought it was from a comic strip.
McCarthy may have gone a little overboard but the fact remains that he was right and now we are beginning to see what happens when the American people fall asleep; as you said, the communists have infiltrated the government and they look to take more and more power and that is what they are doing. I am not sure how we let this happen but I do know that we need to begin turning it aroung right now!
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
The Marxist/communist are everywhere in our government today. They appear to be trying to accelerate their agenda just in case Obama doesn’t get a second term. The House of Representatives must do everything in their power to starve the beast. We can’t afford to wait until 2013.
Blue
May 7, 2011
So, McCarthy was right. He was treated the same way we treat someone telling the truth today. We don’t want to believe it so we demonize the presenter or, we believe it and don’t like what will be required to correct it so we demonize the presenter. If we ignore it we don’t have to take action. To take action requires effort. We are lazy so we ignore it. It’s easier that way.
Excellent post, Jim.
Conservatives on Fire
May 7, 2011
Thanks, Blue. McCarthy was right to worry about communist infiltration in government. His methods of identifying possible communist were barbaric. Today, because of the liberals causes of PC ad Multiculturalism, the Marxist/communist needn’t hide their beliefs. It makes me sick.