The mouse that was forbidden from roaring.

“Only when a republic’s life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is wrong. There is no other time.”—MT

The question is thus, is our republic in danger? And if so, how did it become that way? Without knowing if it is, and how we got to a place of jeopardy, odds are we’ll continue repeating historical errors. It would be most beneficial to not make them again. However, MT wasn’t so sure we won’t. According to him, “It is not worthwhile to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man’s character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.” Nevertheless I’ll take a shot at opening the curtains of ignorance (a dangerous endeavor) by taking my readers on a short walk through history in order to suggest answers. 

It will, however, take more than a short post to fully answer these two, and if I’ve learned nothing else from years of writing, hardly anyone reads anything other than short ones. That being the case I’ll take this in stages and the first stage concerns a satirical story—The Mouse That Roared—written post WWII by Irish American writer Leonard Wibberley. The timing of the story was critically informed subsequent to the defeat of Germany and Japan, followed by rebuilding both, with massive infusions of U.S. taxpayer dollars and then going on to become major players in the global economy. The reason for my choice, while not immediately apparent, will become clear as I continue with subsequent stages in posts to follow.

In the story, the tiny European Duchy of Grand Fenwick has built a precarious economy based on growing and selling Pinot Grand Fenwick wine. Unfortunately the entire economy is placed in harms way when an American winery makes a knockoff version, “Pinot Grand Enwick,” putting the Duchy on the verge of bankruptcy.

The prime minister decides that their only course of action is to declare war on the United States and bank on a quick and total defeat (since their standing army was equipped with mere bows and arrows). The next sequence in his plan was to rebuild itself through the largesse of the United States and then become annexed, no longer singularly dependent on Pinot Grand Fenwick wine, but instead enjoying the prosperity of being a member of the U.S. The success of the intended plan depended on the “roar” of this tiny mouse, however the plan didn’t work out as expected. But this misguided part serves my purposes in setting the stage for answering the two question about the danger of our republic. And as we will see, the present day mouse has been prohibited from roaring effectively, and just like the story, the plan has gone South. 

In the posts to follow I’ll begin to wend the thread from a sad beginning to a sad end by considering how the emergence of ISIS actually began.