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It's starting to look a lot like England,
Sep. 21st, 2008 08:58 pmA-flat. Hit it.
It's starting to look a lot like England
Thirteenth century...
A bankrupt administration, A bankrupt nation
Endless loans and consumer groans agree
It's beginning to look a lot like England
Under Bad King John
All the great Charter's freemen's rights
For the Patriot Act took flight
Savings still are gone!
For those not up on their medieval politics:
King Richard the Lionhearted bankrupted England fighting the Crusade. He famously said he would sell London if he could find a buyer. He spent 6 mo of his reign in his country and his wife, Berengaria (married for her dowry of a fortune in silver) was the only queen never to enter England.
When Richard died in 1199, John lackland, who as the youngest of 5 brothers never expected to be king, had the kingship thrust upon him. Although John was decent for micromanaging, he wasn't much of a big picture guy and left the running of the country to sheriffs and barons. He raised taxes, repeatedly, trying to bail England out of the financial crisis in which Richard had left it.
Since he was taking a bigger cut for the country, the nobles and sheriffs had to tax their people more in order to make their own positions profitable. (Sheriffs paid thousands of pounds a year for the privilege of collecting taxes.) Eventually the Barons revolted under the hated scutage, or tax of knights to fight France.
John ended his reign dying of dysentery in a castle on the Nottingham/Lincolnshire border, the crown jewels lost in a swamp, 17 children fighting for his throne, the barons at war with the crown and a French prince trying to take the throne of England.
Starting to look similar here.
My cloudy crystal ball says:
The Republicans will stop trying to win soon. Much better to shove the Democrats into having to clean up their mess, so that they can point and sneer, "See? we told you THOSE PEOPLE were incapable." Obama will either have to be the next FDR, or democrats won't stand a chance for 50 years, and blacks will never be elected to major office again.
It's starting to look a lot like England
Thirteenth century...
A bankrupt administration, A bankrupt nation
Endless loans and consumer groans agree
It's beginning to look a lot like England
Under Bad King John
All the great Charter's freemen's rights
For the Patriot Act took flight
Savings still are gone!
For those not up on their medieval politics:
King Richard the Lionhearted bankrupted England fighting the Crusade. He famously said he would sell London if he could find a buyer. He spent 6 mo of his reign in his country and his wife, Berengaria (married for her dowry of a fortune in silver) was the only queen never to enter England.
When Richard died in 1199, John lackland, who as the youngest of 5 brothers never expected to be king, had the kingship thrust upon him. Although John was decent for micromanaging, he wasn't much of a big picture guy and left the running of the country to sheriffs and barons. He raised taxes, repeatedly, trying to bail England out of the financial crisis in which Richard had left it.
Since he was taking a bigger cut for the country, the nobles and sheriffs had to tax their people more in order to make their own positions profitable. (Sheriffs paid thousands of pounds a year for the privilege of collecting taxes.) Eventually the Barons revolted under the hated scutage, or tax of knights to fight France.
John ended his reign dying of dysentery in a castle on the Nottingham/Lincolnshire border, the crown jewels lost in a swamp, 17 children fighting for his throne, the barons at war with the crown and a French prince trying to take the throne of England.
Starting to look similar here.
My cloudy crystal ball says:
The Republicans will stop trying to win soon. Much better to shove the Democrats into having to clean up their mess, so that they can point and sneer, "See? we told you THOSE PEOPLE were incapable." Obama will either have to be the next FDR, or democrats won't stand a chance for 50 years, and blacks will never be elected to major office again.
