This piece of modern history has always fascinated me, and I have written about it before. As a kid, I remember that every few years some Jap would be found in a cave somewhere on an island in the Pacific still holding out to defend The Emperor, even though WWII had ended decades before.
Even as a kid I wondered about how many years of their productive lives these guys had wasted in the name of loyalty to an oath to their Emperor that had already surrendered. How many wonderful days with their folks, their wives, their children did they sacrifice for a war already lost? (In a very short life, that flies by, BTW)
There is an interesting chronicle of some of these stories here. Some of them are a little suspicical...kinda like an anecdote, or an "Island" version of an "urban legend," but some are completely verifiable. The most famous of these Japs was Hiroo Onada who surrendered in 1974 in the Philippines.
Sometimes I feel like a Jap in a cave. After the election of BarackO', I heard, and read many conservative/libertarian pundits say things like..."Now we will have to fight every battle one by one. We lost this battle. We've had a great setback. We couldn't even get our guy on the ballot against Obama, so this is going to be a long, long war, and we are in a cave. We will have to battle every measure. We will have to limit the damage. We will have to defend our position until the war turns our way. We have sworn allegiance to The Emperor (The Constitution), and we will serve him well, etc."
Those aren't their exact words, but that's how I heard them.
I've always shunned people that are "a bucket of cold water." I've never liked being around pessimists. I'm a glass-half-full guy...but I'm beginning to wonder if Conservatives/Libertarians aren't just fighting battles for an Emperor that has already surrendered. Maybe the war is over.
Maybe, just maybe, The Constitution has been so shredded...our fellow citizens (and illegals) so dumbed down...our elected representatives so corrupt...our underclass so permanent, hopeless, dependent, and greedy...our enemies so emboldened...and our respect for our Emperor (The Constitution) so deep that we don't revolt against him (regardless of how shredded he is)...maybe the war is over.
Maybe we are just a bunch of Japs in a cave. Maybe we are fooling ourselves...
We might be like Japs in a cave in that we have to hole up for a while but, unlike the Japs, our emperor is the Declaration and Bill of Rights which are immortal and true for all time. It might not happen in our lifetimes but I know that American ideals will eventually prevail.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your magnolia.
I sure hope you are right Pat. I really do. I have always considered our Emperor to be the Constitution. It instituted representative government. I fear that we are so out-numbered that "in our lifetimes" those that represent "them" will always trump those that represent "us."
ReplyDeleteThe conservative/libertarian fidelity to The Constitution may prevent us from another rebellion. I don't quite know how to say this, but we all know deep inside that it must happen to restore The Emperor. But our adherence to The Emperor may prevent it from ever happening.
It's a Catch 22.
I don't know if that makes any sense or not.
Thanks for the condolences for my Jap Mag...I was so looking forward to the glory of that sight...
We'll get 'em next year!