Has Anyone Heard From The Pied Piper?

By T. Henry

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Frequently in this troubled world, things are not what they appear to be; and no place is this truth more evident in our crumbling society and visibly on public display than within the "promised land of politics," which is daily manipulated and compromised by silver-tongued, self-serving politicians who can't seem to distinguish between HOPE, HYPE, and HYPERBOLE.

A good friend has just sent me a troubling message, which has a familiar story line involving a certain Pied Piper; but this one is not from Hamlin. But then I appear to digress: it doesn't really matter where he and his cohorts are from . . . it's where they are taking us that should have our rapt, undivided focus, and attention.

Once upon a time . . .

There was a Pied Piper who said, “We live in the greatest country in the world. Help me change it!”

And the people said, “Change is good!”

Then he said, “We are going to tax the rich fat-cats,"

And the people said “Sock it to them!” “and redistribute their wealth.” And the people said, “Show me the money!”

And then he said, “Redistribution of wealth is good for everybody”

And Joe the plumber said, are you kidding me?” And Joe’s personal records were hacked and publicized.

And one lone reporter asked, “Isn’t that Marxist policy?” And she was banished from the kingdom!

Then someone asked, “With no foreign relations experience, how will you deal with radical terrorists?”

And the Pied Piper said, “Simple. I’ll sit down and talk with them and show them how nice we really are and they’ll forget that they ever wanted to kill us all!” Then the Pied Piper said, “I’ll give 95% of you lower taxes.”

And one, lone voice said, “But 40% of us don’t pay ANY taxes..”

So the Pied Piper said, “Then I’ll give you some of the taxes the fat-cats pay!”

And the people said, “Show me the money!”

Then the Pied Piper said, “I’ll tax your Capital Gains when you sell your homes!”

And the people yawned and the slumping housing market collapsed.

And he said, “I’ll mandate employer- funded health care for EVERY worker and raise the minimum wage.”

And the people said, “Gim’me some of that!”

Then he said, “I’ll penalize employers who ship jobs overseas.”

And the people said, “Where’s my rebate check?”

Then the Pied Piper actually said, “I’ll bankrupt the coal industry and electricity rates will skyrocket!”

And the people said, “Coal is dirty, coal is evil, no more coal! But we don’t care for that part about higher electric rates.”

So the Pied Piper said, “Not to worry. If your rebate isn’t enough to cover your expenses, we’ll bail you out. Just sign up with ACORN and your troubles are over!” Then he said, “Illegal immigrants feel scorned and slighted. Let’s grant them amnesty, Social Security, free education, free lunches, free medical care, bi-lingual signs and guaranteed housing.”

And the people said, “Ole`! Bravo!” And they made him King!

And so it came to pass that employers, facing spiraling costs and ever-higher taxes, raised their prices and laid off workers. Others simply gave up and went out of business and the economy slowed even further.

Then the Pied Piper said, “I am the Messiah and I’m here to save you! We’ll just print more money so everyone will have enough!”

But our foreign trading partners said, “Wait a minute. Your dollar isn’t worth what it was. You’ll have to pay more.”

And the people said, “Wait a minute. That’s not fair!”

And the world said, “Neither are these other, idiotic programs you’ve embraced. You’ve become a Socialist state and a second-rate power. Now you’ll play by our rules!”

And the people said, “What have we done?” But it was too late.

If you think this is a fairy tale, open your eyes and ears. It’s happening RIGHT NOW! Did you know the president’s name is really an acronym… One Big Astounding Mistake America.

It seems that most of our politicians, including President Obama, believe that we can return this nation to prosperity by spending ourselves deeper into debt. It's small wonder that such individuals are elected to their positions and sustained in power by a lot of foolish Americans who think that all is well as long as they get a portion of the money for themselves.

Lest we forget . . . in the original fairy tale, the townsfolk lost that which they valued the most when it finally came time to pay the piper; and they refused! Has anyone heard from the Pied Piper lately? I think that I hear some familiar music in the air nearby . . .