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In the movie ‘Gladiator’, Roman Senator Gracchus said, “I think he (the Emperor) knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still, they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it’s the sand of the coliseum. He’ll bring them death – and they will love him for it.” The key is in the ‘magic’ that keeps the ‘mob’ distracted.
This could not be truer today with establishment politicians who ‘conjure magic’ with powerful emotional speeches that serve as distractions to an unsuspecting ‘mob.’ Yet, these magical speeches quickly dissipate as they result in no real legislative solution to any problem.
The border invasion is a perfect example of ‘conjuring magic’ to distract the public. How many ‘magical’ and powerful speeches, special meetings, hearings, rallies, and flag waves have been held in regard to the border crisis? Countless; yet, all conclude with the same end product – a mere ‘distraction’ with no legislative or concrete solution. Why?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” The border invasion did not originate naturally. The border invasion did not occur as a result of negligence. The border invasion is a complex international network – from politicians to organized crime – substantiating it was ‘planned that way.’ Thus, the inaction and disregard of elected officials towards the border invasion are also not by accident.
As much as elected officials express fake outrage, fake consternation, and fake concern over the border crisis, they do nothing effective to stop it. Elected officials are fully aware of the cartels, the rapes, the child and human trafficking, the drug trafficking, and the deaths at the border. Yet, besides pounding their chests with emotional speeches, they do nothing to stop it.
Despite the evidence of legislative failure at the border – as with numerous other issues – there are those who suffer from political stockholm syndrome. These are the ones that are illiterate as to what occurs in ‘the marble of the Senate.’ Rather, they are stuck in ‘the sand of the coliseum.’
These are the ones that defend, justify, and excuse the negligence and apathy of their politicians. These are the ones mesmerized by the ‘magic’. These are the ones that elect non-effective politicians and severely scold any opposition. These are the ones that economist Ludwig von Mises called ‘useful idiots.’
In regards to these victims of political stockholm syndrome, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote: “The evil was not in bread and circuses, per se, but in the willingness of the people to sell their rights as free men…which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and circuses can never appease.”
“Truth cannot survive apathy; and denial – to avoid action – yields no solution.” Don’t allow the seductive ‘magic’ to distract your focus from the evident truth; for it will impair your judgment and reason. On the contrary, emerge and ascend. Do not perish with the ‘mob’ in ‘the sand of the coliseum.’