Wandering_Minstrel

A CALL TO BATTLE

We as Americans look to democratic means to solve our differences, but our founding fathers were aware of the dangers posed by "all enemies foreign and domestic". Americans now face a serious domestic enemy, those republicans backing and enabling Donald Trump in his coup against the American Republic.

Let the words of the "St. Crispin’s Day speech" from Shakespeare's "Henry V*, Act IV, Scene III" be a call to battle for us all.
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He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.

And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.

Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember’d;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
>**St. Crispin’s Day speech**
>*Henry V*, Act IV, Scene III

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Litany of Fear

"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
-- The Litany of Fear
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Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.

And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.
-- Unknown
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This we shall oppose at all cost
-- wm
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George Smiley's Letter to Karla
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By your actions, you have disowned the system that made you. You have placed love above duty. The ground on which you once stood is cut away. You have become a citizen of no man's land. I send you my greetings.
-- George Smiley
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The Mikado - A Wandering Minstrel I
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David Brooks at UChicago
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“Only the rocks live forever"
-- Gray Wolf (Centennial)
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"And even they don't"
-- wm
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"Dust In The Wind"
Kansas
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I close my eyes
Only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity
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Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind
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Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
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Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
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Now don't hang on
Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy
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Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
(In the wind)
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(Don’t Fear) The Reaper
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-- wm has left the building
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