Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 10
I begin by saying I am not advocating anything in this post. Absolutely, I say I am not. I was, however, struck by a documentary I watched a few days ago in relation to our current situation.
The subject was the assassination of Julius Caesar.
We have all seen what one crazed gunman can do: think Lincoln, or Franz Ferdinand, the Duke of Austria. And there have been lots of others: the deranged job seeker, Leon Czolgosz, who killed President McKinley, or even James Earl Ray (King) or Lee Harvey Oswald (Kennedy.) No, those were solo efforts (conspiracy theories aside) by a single individual, aggrieved for whatever their own personal and petty outrages were.
Julius Caesar, on the other hand, was killed by a group of high status Senators who decided he had acquired too much power and was abusing in ways that threatened the Republic. (A similar situation came with Caligula some 80 years later, again not the victim of a single disturbed individual but a plot of his own guards whose sole duty was his protection.) In Caligula’s case I think we have a bit more convincing detail.
And given what we are witnessing today, I couldn’t help but wonder just how out-of-control Caesar (and Caligula) must have been to engender such a conspiracy, a murderous mutiny if you will, of those closest to the leader to have plotted, planned the details, and conspired and executed the scheme to kill him and end the tyranny. What kind of astonishing abuse must there have been to convince an entire group of the Senators to commit high treason and murder (or in Caligula’s case, his own protective guard).
It’s really something to think about, the kinds of political machinations that have resounded through history, and while I don’t think we’re in any kind of parallel situation at the moment, maybe it’s beginning to rhyme just a little?
(I emphasize again this is not an advocacy of any kind, I hope it’s a detached historical exercise to try to get into the mindset of those long ago Romans who were so appalled by what was going on politically that they took to group violence to achieve their ends.)
No. of Recommendations: 6
I’d like to think that our founders were aware of that ancient history. And to avoid such violence they included the checks and balances on power that we are so familiar with.
Hopefully, we are wise enough to put those checks on power to their intended use thereby avoiding violence.
—Peter
No. of Recommendations: 6
I heard that after someone pointed out that Julius Cesar was assassinated by Senators one of the CPAC speakers said that the US needs a Napoleon. Evidently history is not Trumpians long suit. Yes, the Little Corporal has a nice tomb in Paris, but he died a prisoner on the isolated South Atlantic island of St. Helana after being defeated again by the British. Who knows, maybe they meant the delicious pastry.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Hopefully, we are wise enough to put those checks on power to their intended use thereby avoiding violence.
You're being funny, right? You know what Congress is today. Do you really think they will check the power of the Felon? Over half of them are licking his boots. It won't be long before Felon and Musk will be shouting "squeal like a pig!!". (with apologies to Ned Beatty)
No. of Recommendations: 3
You're being funny, right? You know what Congress is today.
I am not being funny, and I know what Congress is today.
For now, it will have to be the judiciary and the individual states slowing the march away from a Republic toward autocracy.
But Congress will be different two years from now, and different again 4 years from now. That is our window of opportunity to stop autocracy and return to democracy.
I'd also like to offer a slight correction, or perhaps an addition or amplification. We not only need to be wise enough to put the checks on power to use, we need to be courageous enough to use them. We knew what to do 4 years ago at Trump's second impeachment trial, but our elected representatives lacked the courage to actually accomplish it. We knew what to in both state and federal courts to hold Trump accountable for his attempted overthrow of an election, but our prosecutors lacked the courage to do it with sufficient speed. We knew what to do 5 months ago, but the electorate lacked both the wisdom and courage to vote for someone other than the budding autocrat who had all of the relevant information laid out for the voters in both Congressional hearings and in several courtrooms around the country.
These are all checks on power. We know they are there. The only question is are we wise enough AND courageous enough to use them. I can only hope that we are, because it may take all of them.
--Peter
No. of Recommendations: 10
You're being funny, right? You know what Congress is today. Do you really think they will check the power of the Felon?
Not unless it's going to cost them their seats.
But we may get there yet. Trump doesn't realize it, but he's placing a really big bet on the traditional right-wing theory of government. Namely, the idea that most government resources are just a big waste, and that no one would miss it if you cut a third or more of what the government does away.
If you imagine a federal government worker as a faceless bureaucrat pushing paper in DC, it's easy to believe that. If you visualize a federal government worker as the radiologist in the VA clinic, or a prison guard at a federal penitentiary, or the cook at the Army mess hall, or a border patrol agent, or the TSA security guard working the line at the airport....well, suddenly you can begin to see how cutting all those people out might have real effects on voters that might get them upset.
The truth is, most federal workers are doing things that are appreciated and valued by some constituency of voters. Most of them are doing jobs that aren't the least bit ideological. They're just performing the functions of making sure veterans get health care, or that the national parks are usable for visitors, or that the logistics of Army bases work.
If the Muskovites are right, then few of these services will be affected. This was what Musk took away (I think) from his Twitter experience - he fired 80% of the people or so, but the site still works. But if he's wrong, then Congressbeings will be inundated with unhappy constituents that are upset that government services they like were found to be wasteful by DOGE.
No. of Recommendations: 6
If you imagine a federal government worker as a faceless bureaucrat pushing paper in DC, it's easy to believe that. If you visualize a federal government worker as the radiologist in the VA clinic, or a prison guard at a federal penitentiary, or the cook at the Army mess hall, or a border patrol agent, or the TSA security guard working the line at the airport....well, suddenly you can begin to see how cutting all those people out might have real effects on voters that might get them upset.
I agree. I hope it blows up in their faces. It will be a lot of pain for a lot of people, but sometimes that's what it takes to learn.
No. of Recommendations: 3
Not unless it's going to cost them their seats.
Which, in most cases, it probably won't. They're called "safe seats" for a reason, as you well know.
I also suspect they would be afraid of angering their MAGA constituents, since they seem to be prone to threats of violence. I'm sure they get threats all the time, but I read somewhere (forget where) that there has been an uptick since MAGA hit the scene. And, of course, we know about the running over pedestrians and riots and plots to kidnap governors.
I dislike McConnell, but even he was reticent to voice much opposition until the Felon was out (in 2020), and now again when he's decided to hang it up this term (and so doesn't care about angering MAGA). He is one of the last classic Reps. They all seem to be MAGA Reps now.
