Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better! Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better! [Reader Post]

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animal_farm

One of my favorite stories of all time is George Orwell’s book, “Animal Farm”. It was assigned reading for my 7th or 8th grade English class and my first time reading it stands out for two reasons: 1) It was the first time I had read a story about animals that did not have a happy ending, and 2) I couldn’t put it down and devoured the book in one night. That last feat was one I had never done before and I don’t believe I have ever repeated. It was only later that I learned that the story was an allegory for the Russian Revolution and I was somewhat annoyed that it never came up in our class discussions, as that added an entirely new level to the story itself. For those of you unfamiliar, in the story the animals of a farm in England rise up and overthrow the farm owner, chasing him away and taking over the farm to run themselves. Initially it’s a workers’ paradise as all of the animals pitch in to do their share and the farm prospers. Like any paradise, “human” nature sets in and the pigs chosen to lead the animals are corrupted by their power. The pigs’ lives become more luxurious while the working class animals slowly but surely watch their own become more and more miserable. By the end the pigs have taken on so many characteristics of the humans that they helped to “liberate” the farm from that it becomes impossible to tell the pigs apart from some visiting humans.

When Animal Farm was first established the animals lived by seven commandments:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

For the benefit of the sheep, who lacked the brain power to understand the commandments, they were given the simple phrase of “Four legs good, two legs bad.” Over the course of the book the pigs break these commandments to escalating degrees, and each time one is broken the commandments painted on the side of the barn are modified or removed to accommodate the newest rule that is broken by the ruling class. You can see the original commandments, along with a quick breakdown of how and why each was broken here.

I see many similarities in the left today with President Obama. They unconditionally swallowed every promise he made, such as running up our debt being “irresponsible and unpatriotic”, promises to compromise national security (Guantanamo, wire taps, drones), and openness and transparency in his administration. As he broke each of these promises they simply accepted them with nothing more than sometimes a few breaths of perfunctory protest.1 For the less informed voters, the simple mantra of “Hope and Change” was easy to bleat in approval.

The issue of Obamacare truly brings to light the pigs rewriting the rules for themselves. The first sign that Obamacare wasn’t the promised load of sunshine and rainbows came when the same unions that fought to support it were now wanting exemptions from this toxic law. More recently, we saw Secretary of state John Kerry lead a group of unpatriotic, racist Democrat members of Congress who wanted removed from Obamacare one of its funding sources – a tax on medical devices that threatened jobs in that industry. I still don’t understand how they could argue this, as every leftist knows that raising taxes does not have a negative impact on economic activity, much less job creation.

But sabotaging tax increases needed to fund this “revenue neutral” program was nothing compared to what came out a few weeks ago. Ace of Spades picked up on a story in Politico about how lawmakers planned to exempt themselves from Obamacare. Later on Harry Reid said that exemptions may not be necessary and that the problem may be from a piece added by Republicans, but we can’t be completely sure until we’ve read all of the bill to find out what’s in it, now can we? And for that matter, how much can we trust a known pederast like Reid? Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the original story:

There is concern in some quarters that the provision requiring lawmakers and staffers to join the exchanges, if it isn’t revised, could lead to a “brain drain” on Capitol Hill, as several sources close to the talks put it.

…aides and lawmakers in both parties fear that staffers — especially low-paid junior aides — could be hit with thousands of dollars in new health care costs, prompting them to seek jobs elsewhere. Older, more senior staffers could also retire or jump to the private sector rather than face a big financial penalty.

Plus, lawmakers — especially those with long careers in public service and smaller bank accounts — are also concerned about the hit to their own wallets.

In the words of the immortal Popeye the Sailor Man, “Well blow me down!” All along every leftist has been insisting that Obamacare is the greatest piece of legislation from their Lord and Savior and now the same people who voted to pass the bill to find out what’s in it want no part of it? And wait a minute, a law that causes insurance premiums to increase disproportionally hurts then poor? And it will only now have a negative effect on employment when it affects them personally? I don’t know how to take this, because this just turns upside down the biggest defenses of Obamacare!

At the end of Animal Farm, one of the final steps in the pigs’ transformation was to teach themselves to walk upright on two legs, in direct violation of the first commandment, and the basic slogan of their sheep. Fortunately, in preparation for this moment the sheep had been given a new slogan to bleat just before any protest could be raised, “Four legs good, two legs better! Four legs good, two legs better!” One of the older animals had vague memories of something in their old commandments and asked one of her fellows to walk her over to the barn to read them to her. By this point the barn had been painted over to reveal one sole commandment:

“All animals are equal and some are more equal than others.”

George Will summed this debacle up in a completely unrelated story about how the furloughs at the FAA designed to punish air travellers were miraculously resolved immediately before many lawmakers and their staff members were scheduled to fly out of DC,

“Amazing, the dispatch with which the government acts when its stupidities inconvenience the rulers as much as the ruled.”

Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog

1 Of course, leftists will correctly blast for conservatives for staying as quiet as we did when Dubya laid a solid foundation for sending federal debt skyrocketing. Are you all regretting staying on the sidelines for as long as we did? I know I am.

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Excellent post, Brother Bob. Of course, the leftists and progressives that inhabit this site will read this and either totally miss the parallels drawn, or explain them away, or simply attack you, the writer, as a ‘hater’ (of Obama).

What these people will fail to understand is that Orwell’s book was simply a poetic piece of writing explaining the absurdness that ruling classes engage in at the same time that the masses(the sheep) accept the absurdity without protest. This happened during the time of our own Revolution and subsequent split from England, when the lawmakers, all of whom were living thousands of miles and an entire ocean away, subjected the citizens of the territories to taxes and tariffs that the lawmakers did not, themselves, pay. In fact, many of those lawmakers were involved in industries like the tea industry, and exempted their own business interests from the same taxes they imposed upon others who weren’t part of the circle of lawmakers.

Today, the politics of pull is prevalent in our society, with those tasked with creating the law using that task for self-interest over the interest of those who have put them in their position. Today, in order to get ahead in business, it is as much, or more even, about who you know and what you can do for each other than it is about the viability and quality of the product you produce.

Lawmakers today use this politics of pull to gain advantage in the markets with what can only be considered “insider trading”, at the same time the government itself looks under ever crevice for the private citizen who engages in similar conduct, and prosecutes them to the fullest extent of the law.

Lawmakers today insist on subjecting the masses to laws that they, themselves, exempt themselves from, or simply ignore, and the sheep continue on blindly accepting that these people they have put into power over their lives, somehow know better how the sheep should live.

We are told that guns are bad and that they kill people, so we should be limited on what type of guns, and how we can use them, all the while that the lawmakers exempt themselves from, or ignore, those same proclamations and employ armed guards that use the same weaponry the lawmakers claim we don’t need.

That it is not just Obama and the democrats participating in the ‘politics of pull’ is obvious, and those who support the GOP in elections are just as guilty as those who vote democrat, as far as continuing to put in office thieves and liars. At least some people are beginning to admit as much, now. If only those who support the democrats could do so as well.

Brother Bob, My mother was my 7th grade teacher and we read “Animal Farm”, too. You left out an important part. At the end of the book, Boxer, the always reliable (horse) worker finally could not put in any more effort to support the regime created by the pigs. He had been providing all of the effort/horsepower (taxes) to keep the farm running as the pigs kept squandering the farm’s resources. Boxer died and we are left with Margret Thatcher’s words, “What happens when we run out of other people’s money?” or run out of tax payers?

Brother Bob, excellent post. I have used Orwell and this particular book in several articles. It is one of my most favorite classics, but I have an anecdote from the past that I have never mentioned.

In the equivalent to a sixth grade correspondence course, my teacher, whom I never met or saw, wanted me to read a novel by a well-known author and do a report. I asked my dad about the requirement and he handed me “Animal Farm.” I read the book and after composing a report on the surface story of the book, I asked my father to read my report.

He laughed at my effort and informed me that the book was actually an allegory of the Russian Revolution, written by a Socialist with a critical view of the Soviet experiment. Feeling humiliated, I did a quick study of the revolution and the main characters, and reread the book.

On the subsequent report, I was critical of Stalin, represented by Napoleon the pig, and his cruelty toward the other animals, especially Boxer the horse who represented the Russian workers and their compliant roles as Useful Idiots, willing to do anything for Napoleon the pig, who was always right.

Of course our current Napoleon is Obama and his sycophants are the work horses who never doubt his wisdom and overlook the disparity in lifestyles as a perk of leadership, continuously working to uphold the image of Obama, they vow to work harder to stop the famine and poverty and in the meantime, Napoleon adapts the lifestyle of the farmer that was the boss before him.

I received a poor grade, my teacher was incensed. She insisted that Orwell was an unknown author and the story he wrote was too advanced for someone my age to comprehend. I later realized I had exposed a Communist or Stalinist sympathizer to the truth of the glorious revolution. My dad laughed when I mentioned my poor grade and said the teacher must be stupid.

The infiltration of Marxists was in full swing during the 50’s and I was a minor victim. My teacher’s efforts at revisionism obviously backfired, and since that special introduction to Socialism and its role in education, I have learned to expect deceit and lies from Leftists especially Leftist teachers.

@Skookum: My son did something like that during a Race Relations class at college. He wrote about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, Jessie Owens and other people of color who were discriminated against during various periods of US history. He ended it with the “I like Mike” jingle that was used by all kids white or otherwise to show their appreciation for Michael Jordan. The professor was very critical of my son because “he didn’t know anything about racism” even though he was the only white kid on his basket ball team for years and had 4 Hispanic roommates.

@Randy: I was lucky in a way, my college days were divided with an enlistment in the military. The second part of college was different; it was me, who baited and played the PhDs like fish on a fly rod. I had the confidence of the service and could no longer be intimidated by any man, especially those who liked to bully impressionable undergraduates.

Obviously, your son learned or knew to take the intimidation and insults in stride, lessons I am sure fared him well in the ME.

We who see beyond the immediate confrontation are the ones who actually benefit from the thug tactics of intimidation so often employed by the Left. It works with the weak minded, but only strengthens the resolve of stronger individuals.

Brother Bob, . . . great title for your article. Sadly it applies to too much of this world. Too many sheep bleating, “two legs baaaaaahhh.”

@johngalt: #1,

Lawmakers today insist on subjecting the masses to laws that they, themselves, exempt themselves from, or simply ignore, and the sheep continue on blindly accepting that these people they have put into power over their lives, somehow know better how the sheep should live.

With few exceptions, those we elect to political office join a rank and file, forming a cog which acts on behalf of “central bankers” at the top of the food chain.

For half a century we have swallowed the debt pill personally and collectively, and have allowed pols to turn all of us into an indentured species – if not personally, then definitely ‘collectively’.

Now we drift in suspended animation, knowing that the geniuses who control all of our currencies have NO tricks left up their sleeves and have backed themselves and us to hover well over the ledge staring down into a dark hole, . . . baaaaaaaahhhhdd.

@Skookum:

Absolutely. The left is, has always been, and will continue to be built upon nothing but lies. I had an ancient Roman history instructor in college who gave only essay tests. For the first quarter of the semester, I got all high marks on my exams from this instructor. Then our Army ROTC lab day was changed, which was the day we were required to wear our uniforms. The first day I walked into my Roman history class in my uniform, this teacher scowled at me and said, “You’re one of THOSE? You probably like Reagan, then, don’t you?”

For the rest of the semester after that I was unable to get a grade higher than a “B” on any of my tests.

Leftists cannot tolerate free exchange of ideas, nor critical analysis of their dystopian nonsense because in their hearts they know their positions are failures. They just don’t want to admit it out loud.

@Pete: It is ironic, at least to those of us who have been subjected to the hypocrisy of the Left, how they sanctimoniously pride themselves on being fair and objective.

Thankfully, not all who show up to these mills of Socialist indoctrination are willing subjects, but are in effect honed and tempered to resist the Leftist immersion of the Socialist finishing schools that are considered to be advanced education.

Congratulations Pete, for a job done well, B’s from one of these prejudicial bastards, while you were wearing a uniform, is a mark of distinction.

During the 60’s, we Conservatives were easier to recognize, our hair was short and our clothes were neat and clean.

@Randy: Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens—Two of the greatest MEN of the 2oth Century. Their talent and courage has not been equaled by ANY pol including FDR,JFK OR RR.

@Richard Wheeler: Rich, athletic talent has been wasted on many scoundrels, but these men and a few others displayed uncommon class and integrity that has been an inspiration to millions.

Brother Bob
I like it and like your explaining it too,
thank you.