“Whom the Gods Would Destroy, They First Make Mad” And They’re Right on Schedule

January 4, 2013 5

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – It’s rumored that Albert Einstein coined the phrase that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. If that really is the definition of insanity — and I haven’t checked that out with the clinicians and those that study these sorts of ailments of the mind. If that is indeed the definition of insanity, I think it’s fair to say that over the course of the last two or three decades, that probably is a very apt description of our daily, weekly, monthly, yearly spectacle which is our general government on decay and on parade. Check out the rest in today’s transcript…

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike: The unofficial website for all things me remains MikeChurch.com. That’s where you will find today’s Pile of Prep, which has the Latin phrase in it that I mentioned in the opening music rundown, quem deus vult perdere, prius dementat, which I found in Henry Kyd Douglas’s book I Rode with Stonewall. I spent a little time trying to translate it. I basically found it means “Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first drive insane.” It sounds to me like the gods are right on schedule, don’t it? Or The God is right on schedule and driving us insane. That’s a fair characterization of our current pickle: insanity.

It’s rumored that Albert Einstein coined the phrase that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. If that really is the definition of insanity — and I haven’t checked that out with the clinicians and those that study these sorts of ailments of the mind. If that is indeed the definition of insanity, I think it’s fair to say that over the course of the last two or three decades, that probably is a very apt description of our daily, weekly, monthly, yearly spectacle which is our general government on decay and on parade. You know, what’s amazing to me is the fascination and fixation that we still seem to have. We Americans — Eugene Robinson points this out today. AG, were you shocked when I told you that Eugene Robinson actually makes sense today?

AG: It wasn’t what I expected first thing in the morning.

Mike: Did you think he made sense? I went back and read it again just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. I’m looking at it right now thinking I don’t find much to disagree with on that.

AG: Yeah. Congress is in a little bit of a pickle here.

Mike: Little bit of a pickle? What’s a big pickle, $20 trillion? I like the characterization of this was basically for theater. This is from an Obama man admitting — ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the gates of Hades. Some of us have been saying we’re at the gates of Hades for quite a while. We’re not actually pushing us inside of Hades. You’re standing outside of hell looking in thinking: Who would want to go in there? Do you want to go in there? I don’t want to go in there. This seems to be what we’re experiencing here lately. No one wants to be blamed for anyone, and consequently no one wants to take responsibility for anything other than maintaining the status quo, which is, by all accounts and admissions, a recipe for imminent disaster. The question has to be, why do we collectively continue in this pursuit. This is what should be keeping you up at night. It’s not the fact that the events aren’t turning in a manner in which you and I would like them to turn. I don’t think the events are turning in a manner in which the other side or the other three sides would like for them to turn. I think the amazing thing is that the events continue to turn in a manner in which almost everyone does not desire.

If that’s the case, you’d have to logically look at this and ask two questions. One is, is that the condition of man? Is that the way it has always been, that no one is ever satisfied and no side ever gets complete and total victory? I don’t buy that. I don’t see that. I suppose that one could explore that option. The other choice is that that is not the way it is. If it is not, what has resulted from vast majorities of men in societies knit together through this form or that form of government, or whatever it is that organizes the people, what is it then that breaks the back? What is it then that drives men to separate, that drives men to seek alternative measures? We seem to be devoid of enough inertia.

One of my favorite phrases from my buddy Kevin Gutzman, there are two great forces in American politics: apathy and inertia. We have too much of one and not enough of another. In other words, you’ve got to get the ball rolling here. Why does that seem to be so difficult. I think it’s so difficult because there’s over a hundred years’ worth of propaganda that has been drilled into people’s heads. Most Americans are unaware that there is any other alternative way other than getting your Mordor on the Potomac River prayer mat out, throwing it down on the ground, and bowing five different times a day towards Washington, DC, begging for their mercy. [mocking] “Please, don’t tax us anymore! Please, don’t steal any more of our resources! Please don’t send your judges down here to torment us.”

End Mike Church Show Transcript