Have you noticed the goings on in Washington, D.C.? USAID employees and politicians, the former concerned about their jobs and the latter about their power, are out protesting efficiency. Seems their values lie in inefficiency. Whodathunkit? And who would have associated Democrats with government overreach, wasteful spending, and Leftist initiatives?
So, it seems that the Democrats are screaming, “The barbarians are at the gates” mirroring the panicked Romans crying "Hannibal is at the gates."
This means, of course, “Elon Musk’s DOGE is looking at the books, looking at government spending on behalf of the President. Wouldn’t want Senator Chuck Schumer and other senators trying to do something about wasteful spending, would we? The current political kerfuffle in D.C. and in the liberal media was foreshadowed in a poem called “Waiting for the Barbarians,” by Constantine Cavafy (1864-1923). Consider this stanza:
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown? *
There they are, those outraged senators, congressmen and congresswomen, standing guard, fists raised, sitting “at the city’s main gate” promising that no one—no barbarian like Elon Musk—will enter those buildings and look at those financial books. But what if Elon Musk’s barbarians didn’t show up at government offices? What then? What would be done about the government waste? Would anybody ever do something about it? Cavafy tells us:
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
So, if Elon Musk and DOGE don’t show up at the gates, will anyone in the government do something about cutting out wasteful spending? As the government grew over decades of mindless expansion and foolish misuse of public wealth by uninhibited government employees, no one, no Democrat, no Republican, no Independent, no “Democratic Socialist” did anything of consequence to stop the reckless spending. The only solution to waste is the arrival of barbarians who have no compunction about eliminating that waste, sparing no agency in the process.
NOW is different. Now a President has ordered an examination of government spending.
I suppose Schumer et al. will keep crying, “We weren’t warned. No one consulted us.” The argument they make is that Musk wasn’t elected. Isn’t that the same argument one can make for the USAID employees who spent untold (as yet) millions on projects like transgenderism and DEI in foreign countries? Expenditures for which no one was held accountable.
The unwarranted accusations of treason, revolution, overthrow, coup, and whatever other words they choose to throw out for consumption by liberal pundits reminds me of a story told by Boethius (480-524): The Emperor Caligula accused Canius of being involved in a plot against him. Canius responded,”If I had known of it, you would not.”
Thus, the assassination of reckless spending and unnecessary jobs has occurred. If Schumer had been warned (He actually was in the campaign words of Donald Trump), he might have gotten the Senate to enact laws against an audit and against a presidential appointee’s having access to the books. If he had known, he might have warned the USAID to cook the books. Probably only a few Romans outside the sphere of Praetorian tribunes Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabrina’s closest friends knew of the plot to assassinate Caligula. As the Wikipedia writer puts it, Very few conspirators would have been involved, and not all need have been directly in touch with each other. The fewer who knew, the greater the chance of success.”
That the Democrats and government employees who were directly responsible for the waste of taxes did not know about the reality of Elon's coming, mirrors the Caligula story: The fewer who knew, the greater the chance of success. Elon is at the gates. The analogs in ancient Roman history abound. It’s a cry like “Hannibal is at the gates!” And panic is raging in the Senate as it must have raged during Nero’s fire.
*https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-barbarians-at-the-gate/304655/2
So, it seems that the Democrats are screaming, “The barbarians are at the gates” mirroring the panicked Romans crying "Hannibal is at the gates."
This means, of course, “Elon Musk’s DOGE is looking at the books, looking at government spending on behalf of the President. Wouldn’t want Senator Chuck Schumer and other senators trying to do something about wasteful spending, would we? The current political kerfuffle in D.C. and in the liberal media was foreshadowed in a poem called “Waiting for the Barbarians,” by Constantine Cavafy (1864-1923). Consider this stanza:
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown? *
There they are, those outraged senators, congressmen and congresswomen, standing guard, fists raised, sitting “at the city’s main gate” promising that no one—no barbarian like Elon Musk—will enter those buildings and look at those financial books. But what if Elon Musk’s barbarians didn’t show up at government offices? What then? What would be done about the government waste? Would anybody ever do something about it? Cavafy tells us:
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people’s faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
So, if Elon Musk and DOGE don’t show up at the gates, will anyone in the government do something about cutting out wasteful spending? As the government grew over decades of mindless expansion and foolish misuse of public wealth by uninhibited government employees, no one, no Democrat, no Republican, no Independent, no “Democratic Socialist” did anything of consequence to stop the reckless spending. The only solution to waste is the arrival of barbarians who have no compunction about eliminating that waste, sparing no agency in the process.
NOW is different. Now a President has ordered an examination of government spending.
I suppose Schumer et al. will keep crying, “We weren’t warned. No one consulted us.” The argument they make is that Musk wasn’t elected. Isn’t that the same argument one can make for the USAID employees who spent untold (as yet) millions on projects like transgenderism and DEI in foreign countries? Expenditures for which no one was held accountable.
The unwarranted accusations of treason, revolution, overthrow, coup, and whatever other words they choose to throw out for consumption by liberal pundits reminds me of a story told by Boethius (480-524): The Emperor Caligula accused Canius of being involved in a plot against him. Canius responded,”If I had known of it, you would not.”
Thus, the assassination of reckless spending and unnecessary jobs has occurred. If Schumer had been warned (He actually was in the campaign words of Donald Trump), he might have gotten the Senate to enact laws against an audit and against a presidential appointee’s having access to the books. If he had known, he might have warned the USAID to cook the books. Probably only a few Romans outside the sphere of Praetorian tribunes Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabrina’s closest friends knew of the plot to assassinate Caligula. As the Wikipedia writer puts it, Very few conspirators would have been involved, and not all need have been directly in touch with each other. The fewer who knew, the greater the chance of success.”
That the Democrats and government employees who were directly responsible for the waste of taxes did not know about the reality of Elon's coming, mirrors the Caligula story: The fewer who knew, the greater the chance of success. Elon is at the gates. The analogs in ancient Roman history abound. It’s a cry like “Hannibal is at the gates!” And panic is raging in the Senate as it must have raged during Nero’s fire.
*https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-barbarians-at-the-gate/304655/2
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